(I've tried this in MySql)
I believe they're semantically equivalent. Why not identify this trivial case and speed it up?
truncate table cannot be rolled back, it is like dropping and recreating the table.
...just to add some detail.
Calling the DELETE statement tells the database engine to generate a transaction log of all the records deleted. In the event the delete was done in error, you can restore your records.
Calling the TRUNCATE statement is a blanket "all or nothing" that removes all the records with no transaction log to restore from. It is definitely faster, but should only be done when you're sure you don't need any of the records you're going to remove.
Delete from table deletes each row from the one at a time and adds a record into the transaction log so that the operation can be rolled back. The time taken to delete is also proportional to the number of indexes on the table, and if there are any foreign key constraints (for innodb).
Truncate effectively drops the table and recreates it and can not be performed within a transaction. It therefore required fewer operations and executes quickly. Truncate also does not make use of any on delete triggers.
Exact details about why this is quicker in MySql can be found in the MySql documentation:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/truncate-table.html
Your question was about MySQL and I know little to nothing about MySQL as a product but I thought I'd add that in SQL Server a TRUNCATE statement can be rolled back. Try it for yourself
create table test1 (col1 int)
go
insert test1 values(3)
begin tran
truncate table test1
select * from test1
rollback tran
select * from test1
In SQL Server TRUNCATE is logged, it's just not logged in such a verbose way as DELETE is logged. I believe it's referred to as a minimally logged operation. Effectively the data pages still contain the data but their extents have been marked for deletion. As long as the data pages still exist you can roll back the truncate. Hope this is helpful. I'd be interested to know the results if somebody tries it on MySQL.
For MySql 5 using InnoDb as the storage engine, TRUNCATE acts just like DELETE without a WHERE clause: i.e. for large tables it takes ages because it deletes rows one-by-one. This is changing in version 6.x.
see
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/truncate-table.html
for 5.1 info (row-by-row with InnoDB) and
http://blogs.mysql.com/peterg/category/personal-opinion/
for changes in 6.x
Editor's note
This answer is clearly contradicted by the MySQL documentation:
"For an InnoDB table before version 5.0.3, InnoDB processes TRUNCATE TABLE by deleting rows one by one. As of MySQL 5.0.3, row by row deletion is used only if there are any FOREIGN KEY constraints that reference the table. If there are no FOREIGN KEY constraints, InnoDB performs fast truncation by dropping the original table and creating an empty one with the same definition, which is much faster than deleting rows one by one."
Truncate is on a table level, while Delete is on a row level. If you would translate this to sql in an other syntax, truncate would be:
DELETE * FROM table
thus deleting all rows at once, while DELETE statement (in PHPMyAdmin) goes like:
DELETE * FROM table WHERE id = 1
DELETE * FROM table WHERE id = 2
Just until the table is empty. Each query taking a number of (milli)seconds which add up to taking longer than a truncate.
What's the difference between TRUNCATE and DELETE in SQL?
If your answer is platform specific, please indicate that.
Here's a list of differences. I've highlighted Oracle-specific features, and hopefully the community can add in other vendors' specific difference also. Differences that are common to most vendors can go directly below the headings, with differences highlighted below.
General Overview
If you want to quickly delete all of the rows from a table, and you're really sure that you want to do it, and you do not have foreign keys against the tables, then a TRUNCATE is probably going to be faster than a DELETE.
Various system-specific issues have to be considered, as detailed below.
Statement type
Delete is DML, Truncate is DDL (What is DDL and DML?)
Commit and Rollback
Variable by vendor
SQL*Server
Truncate can be rolled back.
PostgreSQL
Truncate can be rolled back.
Oracle
Because a TRUNCATE is DDL it involves two commits, one before and one after the statement execution. Truncate can therefore not be rolled back, and a failure in the truncate process will have issued a commit anyway.
However, see Flashback below.
Space reclamation
Delete does not recover space, Truncate recovers space
Oracle
If you use the REUSE STORAGE clause then the data segments are not de-allocated, which can be marginally more efficient if the table is to be reloaded with data. The high water mark is reset.
Row scope
Delete can be used to remove all rows or only a subset of rows. Truncate removes all rows.
Oracle
When a table is partitioned, the individual partitions can be truncated in isolation, thus a partial removal of all the table's data is possible.
Object types
Delete can be applied to tables and tables inside a cluster. Truncate applies only to tables or the entire cluster. (May be Oracle specific)
Data Object Identity
Oracle
Delete does not affect the data object id, but truncate assigns a new data object id unless there has never been an insert against the table since its creation Even a single insert that is rolled back will cause a new data object id to be assigned upon truncation.
Flashback (Oracle)
Flashback works across deletes, but a truncate prevents flashback to states prior to the operation.
However, from 11gR2 the FLASHBACK ARCHIVE feature allows this, except in Express Edition
Use of FLASHBACK in Oracle
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/appdev.112/e41502/adfns_flashback.htm#ADFNS638
Privileges
Variable
Oracle
Delete can be granted on a table to another user or role, but truncate cannot be without using a DROP ANY TABLE grant.
Redo/Undo
Delete generates a small amount of redo and a large amount of undo. Truncate generates a negligible amount of each.
Indexes
Oracle
A truncate operation renders unusable indexes usable again. Delete does not.
Foreign Keys
A truncate cannot be applied when an enabled foreign key references the table. Treatment with delete depends on the configuration of the foreign keys.
Table Locking
Oracle
Truncate requires an exclusive table lock, delete requires a shared table lock. Hence disabling table locks is a way of preventing truncate operations on a table.
Triggers
DML triggers do not fire on a truncate.
Oracle
DDL triggers are available.
Remote Execution
Oracle
Truncate cannot be issued over a database link.
Identity Columns
SQL*Server
Truncate resets the sequence for IDENTITY column types, delete does not.
Result set
In most implementations, a DELETE statement can return to the client the rows that were deleted.
e.g. in an Oracle PL/SQL subprogram you could:
DELETE FROM employees_temp
WHERE employee_id = 299
RETURNING first_name,
last_name
INTO emp_first_name,
emp_last_name;
The difference between truncate and delete is listed below:
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Truncate | Delete |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| We can't Rollback after performing | We can Rollback after delete. |
| Truncate. | |
| | |
| Example: | Example: |
| BEGIN TRAN | BEGIN TRAN |
| TRUNCATE TABLE tranTest | DELETE FROM tranTest |
| SELECT * FROM tranTest | SELECT * FROM tranTest |
| ROLLBACK | ROLLBACK |
| SELECT * FROM tranTest | SELECT * FROM tranTest |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Truncate reset identity of table. | Delete does not reset identity of table. |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| It locks the entire table. | It locks the table row. |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Its DDL(Data Definition Language) | Its DML(Data Manipulation Language) |
| command. | command. |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| We can't use WHERE clause with it. | We can use WHERE to filter data to delete. |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Trigger is not fired while truncate. | Trigger is fired. |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Syntax : | Syntax : |
| 1) TRUNCATE TABLE table_name | 1) DELETE FROM table_name |
| | 2) DELETE FROM table_name WHERE |
| | example_column_id IN (1,2,3) |
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
DROP
The DROP command removes a table from the database. All the tables' rows, indexes and privileges will also be removed. No DML triggers will be fired. The operation cannot be rolled back.
TRUNCATE
TRUNCATE removes all rows from a table. The operation cannot be rolled back and no triggers will be fired. As such, TRUNCATE is faster and doesn't use as much undo space as a DELETE. Table level lock will be added when Truncating.
DELETE
The DELETE command is used to remove rows from a table. A WHERE clause can be used to only remove some rows. If no WHERE condition is specified, all rows will be removed. After performing a DELETE operation you need to COMMIT or ROLLBACK the transaction to make the change permanent or to undo it. Note that this operation will cause all DELETE triggers on the table to fire. Row level lock will be added when deleting.
From: http://www.orafaq.com/faq/difference_between_truncate_delete_and_drop_commands
All good answers, to which I must add:
Since TRUNCATE TABLE is a DDL (Data Defination Language), not a DML (Data Manipulation Langauge) command, the Delete Triggers do not run.
Summary of Delete Vs Truncate in SQL server
For Complete Article follow this link : http://codaffection.com/sql-server-article/delete-vs-truncate-in-sql-server/
Taken from dotnet mob article :Delete Vs Truncate in SQL Server
With SQL Server or MySQL, if there is a PK with auto increment, truncate will reset the counter.
"Truncate doesn't log anything" is correct. I'd go further:
Truncate is not executed in the context of a transaction.
The speed advantage of truncate over delete should be obvious. That advantage ranges from trivial to enormous, depending on your situation.
However, I've seen truncate unintentionally break referential integrity, and violate other constraints. The power that you gain by modifying data outside a transaction has to be balanced against the responsibility that you inherit when you walk the tightrope without a net.
TRUNCATE is the DDL statement whereas DELETE is a DML statement. Below are the differences between the two:
As TRUNCATE is a DDL (Data definition language) statement it does not require a commit to make the changes permanent. And this is the reason why rows deleted by truncate could not be rollbacked. On the other hand DELETE is a DML (Data manipulation language) statement hence requires explicit commit to make its effect permanent.
TRUNCATE always removes all the rows from a table, leaving the table empty and the table structure intact whereas DELETE may remove conditionally if the where clause is used.
The rows deleted by TRUNCATE TABLE statement cannot be restored and you can not specify the where clause in the TRUNCATE statement.
TRUNCATE statements does not fire triggers as opposed of on delete trigger on DELETE statement
Here is the very good link relevant to the topic.
Yes, DELETE is slower, TRUNCATE is faster. Why?
DELETE must read the records, check constraints, update the block, update indexes, and generate redo/undo. All of that takes time.
TRUNCATE simply adjusts a pointer in the database for the table (the High Water Mark) and poof! the data is gone.
This is Oracle specific, AFAIK.
If accidentally you removed all the data from table using Delete/Truncate. You can rollback committed transaction. Restore the last backup and run transaction log till the time when Delete/Truncate is about to happen.
The related information below is from a blog post:
While working on database, we are using Delete and Truncate without
knowing the differences between them. In this article we will discuss
the difference between Delete and Truncate in Sql.
Delete:
Delete is a DML command.
Delete statement is executed using a row lock,each row in the table is locked for deletion.
We can specify filters in where clause.
It deletes specified data if where condition exists.
Delete activities a trigger because the operation are logged individually.
Slower than Truncate because it Keeps logs
Truncate
Truncate is a DDL command.
Truncate table always lock the table and page but not each row.As it removes all the data.
Cannot use Where condition.
It Removes all the data.
Truncate table cannot activate a trigger because the operation does not log individual row deletions.
Faster in performance wise, because it doesn't keep any logs.
Note: Delete and Truncate both can be rolled back when used with
Transaction. If Transaction is done, means committed then we can not
rollback Truncate command, but we can still rollback Delete command
from Log files, as delete write records them in Log file in case it is
needed to rollback in future from log files.
If you have a Foreign key constraint referring to the table you are
trying to truncate, this won't work even if the referring table has no
data in it. This is because the foreign key checking is done with DDL
rather than DML. This can be got around by temporarily disabling the
foreign key constraint(s) to the table.
Delete table is a logged operation. So the deletion of each row gets
logged in the transaction log, which makes it slow. Truncate table
also deletes all the rows in a table, but it won't log the deletion of
each row instead it logs the deallocation of the data pages of the
table, which makes it faster.
~ If accidentally you removed all the data from table using
Delete/Truncate. You can rollback committed transaction. Restore the
last backup and run transaction log till the time when Delete/Truncate
is about to happen.
Here is my detailed answer on the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE in SQL Server
• Remove Data : First thing first, both can be used to remove the rows from table.
But a DELETE can be used to remove the rows not only from a Table but also from a VIEW or the result of an OPENROWSET or OPENQUERY subject to provider capabilities.
• FROM Clause : With DELETE you can also delete rows from one table/view/rowset_function_limited based on rows from another table by using another FROM clause. In that FROM clause you can also write normal JOIN conditions. Actually you can create a DELETE statement from a SELECT statement that doesn’t contain any aggregate functions by replacing SELECT with DELETE and removing column names.
With TRUNCATE you can’t do that.
• WHERE : A TRUNCATE cannot have WHERE Conditions, but a DELETE can. That means with TRUNCATE you can’t delete a specific row or specific group of rows.
TRUNCATE TABLE is similar to the DELETE statement with no WHERE clause.
• Performance : TRUNCATE TABLE is faster and uses fewer system and transaction log resources.
And one of the reason is locks used by either statements. The DELETE statement is executed using a row lock, each row in the table is locked for deletion. TRUNCATE TABLE always locks the table and page but not each row.
• Transaction log : DELETE statement removes rows one at a time and makes individual entries in the transaction log for each row.
TRUNCATE TABLE removes the data by deallocating the data pages used to store the table data and records only the page deallocations in the transaction log.
• Pages : After a DELETE statement is executed, the table can still contain empty pages.
TRUNCATE removes the data by deallocating the data pages used to store the table data.
• Trigger : TRUNCATE does not activate the delete triggers on the table. So you must be very careful while using TRUNCATE. One should never use a TRUNCATE if delete Trigger is defined on the table to do some automatic cleanup or logging action when rows are deleted.
• Identity Column : With TRUNCATE if the table contains an identity column, the counter for that column is reset to the seed value defined for the column. If no seed was defined, the default value 1 is used.
DELETE doesn’t reset the identity counter. So if you want to retain the identity counter, use DELETE instead.
• Replication : DELETE can be used against table used in transactional replication or merge replication.
While TRUNCATE cannot be used against the tables involved in transactional replication or merge replication.
• Rollback : DELETE statement can be rolled back.
TRUNCATE can also be rolled back provided it is enclosed in a TRANSACTION block and session is not closed. Once session is closed you won't be able to Rollback TRUNCATE.
• Restrictions : The DELETE statement may fail if it violates a trigger or tries to remove a row referenced by data in another table with a FOREIGN KEY constraint. If the DELETE removes multiple rows, and any one of the removed rows violates a trigger or constraint, the statement is canceled, an error is returned, and no rows are removed.
And if DELETE is used against View, that View must be an Updatable view.
TRUNCATE cannot be used against the table used in Indexed view.
TRUNCATE cannot be used against the table referenced by a FOREIGN KEY constraint, unless a table that has a foreign key that references itself.
In SQL Server 2005 I believe that you can rollback a truncate
DELETE
The DELETE command is used to remove rows from a table. A WHERE clause can be used to only remove some rows. If no WHERE condition is specified, all rows will be removed. After performing a DELETE operation you need to COMMIT or ROLLBACK the transaction to make the change permanent or to undo it. Note that this operation will cause all DELETE triggers on the table to fire.
TRUNCATE
TRUNCATE removes all rows from a table. The operation cannot be rolled back and no triggers will be fired. As such, TRUCATE is faster and doesn't use as much undo space as a DELETE.
DROP
The DROP command removes a table from the database. All the tables' rows, indexes and privileges will also be removed. No DML triggers will be fired. The operation cannot be rolled back.
DROP and TRUNCATE are DDL commands, whereas DELETE is a DML command. Therefore DELETE operations can be rolled back (undone), while DROP and TRUNCATE operations cannot be rolled back.
From: http://www.orafaq.com/faq/difference_between_truncate_delete_and_drop_commands
TRUNCATE can be rolled back if wrapped in a transaction.
Please see the two references below and test yourself:-
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/12/26/sql-server-truncate-cant-be-rolled-back-using-log-files-after-transaction-session-is-closed/
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kalen_delaney/archive/2010/10/12/tsql-tuesday-11-rolling-back-truncate-table.aspx
The TRUNCATE vs. DELETE is one of the infamous questions during SQL interviews. Just make sure you explain it properly to the Interviewer or it might cost you the job. The problem is that not many are aware so most likely they will consider the answer as wrong if you tell them that YES Truncate can be rolled back.
One further difference of the two operations is that if the table contains an identity column, the counter for that column is reset 1 (or to the seed value defined for the column) under TRUNCATE. DELETE does not have this affect.
A small correction to the original answer - delete also generates significant amounts of redo (as undo is itself protected by redo). This can be seen from autotrace output:
SQL> delete from t1;
10918 rows deleted.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.58
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 DELETE STATEMENT Optimizer=FIRST_ROWS (Cost=43 Card=1)
1 0 DELETE OF 'T1'
2 1 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'T1' (TABLE) (Cost=43 Card=1)
Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
30 recursive calls
12118 db block gets
213 consistent gets
142 physical reads
3975328 redo size
441 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
537 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
4 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
2 sorts (memory)
0 sorts (disk)
10918 rows processed
DELETE
DELETE is a DML command
DELETE you can rollback
Delete = Only Delete- so it can be rolled back
In DELETE you can write conditions using WHERE clause
Syntax – Delete from [Table] where [Condition]
TRUNCATE
TRUNCATE is a DDL command
You can't rollback in TRUNCATE, TRUNCATE removes the record permanently
Truncate = Delete+Commit -so we can't roll back
You can't use conditions(WHERE clause) in TRUNCATE
Syntax – Truncate table [Table]
For more details visit
http://www.zilckh.com/what-is-the-difference-between-truncate-and-delete/
The biggest difference is that truncate is non logged operation while delete is.
Simply it means that in case of a database crash , you cannot recover the data operated upon by truncate but with delete you can.
More details here
DELETE Statement: This command deletes only the rows from the table based on the condition given in the where clause or deletes all the rows from the table if no condition is specified. But it does not free the space containing the table.
The Syntax of a SQL DELETE statement is:
DELETE FROM table_name [WHERE condition];
TRUNCATE statement: This command is used to delete all the rows from the table and free the space containing the table.
Here is a summary of some important differences between these sql commands:
sql truncate command:
1) It is a DDL (Data Definition Language) command, therefore commands such as COMMIT and ROLLBACK do not apply to this command (the exceptions here are PostgreSQL and MSSQL, whose implementation of the TRUNCATE command allows the command to be used in a transaction)
2) You cannot undo the operation of deleting records, it occurs automatically and is irreversible (except for the above exceptions - provided, however, that the operation is included in the TRANSACTION block and the session is not closed). In case of Oracle - Includes two implicit commits, one before and one after the statement is executed. Therefore, the command cannot be withdrawn while a runtime error will result in commit anyway
3) Deletes all records from the table, records cannot be limited to deletion. For Oracle, when the table is split per partition, individual partitions can be truncated (TRUNCATE) in isolation, making it possible to partially remove all data from the table
4) Frees up the space occupied by the data in the table (in the TABLESPACE - on disk). For Oracle - if you use the REUSE STORAGE clause, the data segments will not be rolled back, i.e. you will keep space from the deleted rows allocated to the table, which can be a bit more efficient if the table is to be reloaded with data. The high mark will be reset
5) TRUNCATE works much faster than DELETE
6) Oracle Flashback in the case of TRUNCATE prevents going back to pre-operative states
7) Oracle - TRUNCATE cannot be granted (GRANT) without using DROP ANY TABLE
8) The TRUNCATE operation makes unusable indexes usable again
9) TRUNCATE cannot be used when the enabled foreign key refers to another table, then you can:
execute the command: DROP CONSTRAINT, then TRUNCATE, and then play it through CREATE CONSTRAINT or
execute the command: SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS = 0; then TRUNCATE, then: SET_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS = 1;
10) TRUNCATE requires an exclusive table lock, therefore, turning off exclusive table lock is a way to prevent TRUNCATE operation on the table
11) DML triggers do not fire after executing TRUNCATE (so be very careful in this case, you should not use TRUNCATE, if a delete trigger is defined in the table to perform an automatic table cleanup or a logon action after row deletion). On Oracle, DDL triggers are fired
12) Oracle - TRUNCATE cannot be used in the case of: database link
13) TRUNCATE does not return the number of records deleted
14) Transaction log - one log indicating page deallocation (removes data, releasing allocation of data pages used for storing table data and writes only page deallocations to the transaction log) - faster execution than DELETE. TRUNCATE only needs to adjust the pointer in the database to the table (High Water Mark) and the data is immediately deleted, therefore it uses less system resources and transaction logs
15) Performance (acquired lock) - table and page lock - does not degrade performance during execution
16) TRUNCATE cannot be used on tables involved in transactional replication or merge replication
sql delete command:
1) It is a DML (Data Manipulation Language) command, therefore the following commands are used for this command: COMMIT and ROLLBACK
2) You can undo the operation of removing records by using the ROLLBACK command
3) Deletes all or some records from the table, you can limit the records to be deleted by using the WHERE clause
4) Does not free the space occupied by the data in the table (in the TABLESPACE - on the disk)
5) DELETE works much slower than TRUNCATE
6) Oracle Flashback works for DELETE
7) Oracle - For DELETE, you can use the GRANT command
8) The DELETE operation does not make unusable indexes usable again
9) DELETE in case foreign key enabled refers to another table, can (or not) be applied depending on foreign key configuration (if not), please:
execute the command: DROP CONSTRAINT, then TRUNCATE, and then play it through CREATE CONSTRAINT or
execute the command: SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS = 0; then TRUNCATE, then: SET_FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS = 1;
10) DELETE requires a shared table lock
11) Triggers fire
12) DELETE can be used in the case of: database link
13) DELETE returns the number of records deleted
14) Transaction log - for each deleted record (deletes rows one at a time and records an entry in the transaction log for each deleted row) - slower execution than TRUNCATE. The table may still contain blank pages after executing the DELETE statement. DELETE needs to read records, check constraints, update block, update indexes, and generate redo / undo. All of this takes time, hence it takes time much longer than with TRUNCATE
15) Performance (acquired lock) - record lock - reduces performance during execution - each record in the table is locked for deletion
16) DELETE can be used on a table used in transactional replication or merge replication
In short, truncate doesn't log anything (so is much faster but can't be undone) whereas delete is logged (and can be part of a larger transaction, will rollback etc). If you have data that you don't want in a table in dev it is normally better to truncate as you don't run the risk of filling up the transaction log
A big reason it is handy, is when you need to refresh the data in a multi-million row table, but don't want to rebuild it. "Delete *" would take forever, whereas the perfomance impact of Truncate would be negligible.
Can't do DDL over a dblink.
I'd comment on matthieu's post, but I don't have the rep yet...
In MySQL, the auto increment counter gets reset with truncate, but not with delete.
It is not that truncate does not log anything in SQL Server. truncate does not log any information but it log the deallocation of data page for the table on which you fired TRUNCATE.
and truncated record can be rollback if we define transaction at beginning and we can recover the truncated record after rollback it. But can not recover truncated records from the transaction log backup after committed truncated transaction.
Truncate can also be Rollbacked here the exapmle
begin Tran
delete from Employee
select * from Employee
Rollback
select * from Employee
Truncate and Delete in SQL are two commands which is used to remove or delete data from table. Though quite basic in nature both Sql commands can create lot of trouble until you are familiar with details before using it.
An Incorrect choice of command can result is either very slow process or can even blew up log segment, if too much data needs to be removed and log segment is not enough. That's why it's critical to know when to use truncate and delete command in SQL but before using these you should be aware of the Differences between Truncate and Delete, and based upon them, we should be able to find out when DELETE is better option for removing data or TRUNCATE should be used to purge tables.
Refer check click here
By issuing a TRUNCATE TABLE statement, you are instructing SQL Server to delete every record within a table, without any logging or transaction processing taking place.
DELETE statement can have a WHERE clause to delete specific records whereas TRUNCATE statement does not require any and wipes the entire table.
Importantly, the DELETE statement logs the deleted date whereas the TRUNCATE statement does not.
One more difference specific to microsoft sql server is with delete you can use output statement to track what records have been deleted, e.g.:
delete from [SomeTable]
output deleted.Id, deleted.Name
You cannot do this with truncate.
I have some tables that I build as a part of my report rollup. I don't need them afterwards at all. Someone mentioned to truncate them as it would be faster.
Deleting records from a table logs every deletion and executes delete triggers for the records deleted. Truncate is a more powerful command that empties a table without logging each row. SQL Server prevents you from truncating a table with foreign keys referencing it, because of the need to check the foreign keys on each row.
Truncate is normally ultra-fast, ideal for cleaning out data from a temporary table. It does preserve the structure of the table for future use.
If you actually want to remove the table definitions as well as the data, simply drop the tables.
See this MSDN article for more info
DROP TABLE deletes the table.
TRUNCATE TABLE empties it, but leaves its structure for future data.
DROP and TRUNC do different things:
TRUNCATE TABLE
Removes all rows from a table without
logging the individual row deletions.
TRUNCATE TABLE is similar to the
DELETE statement with no WHERE clause;
however, TRUNCATE TABLE is faster and
uses fewer system and transaction log
resources.
DROP TABLE
Removes one or more table definitions
and all data, indexes, triggers,
constraints, and permission
specifications for those tables.
As far as speed is concerned the difference should be small. And anyway if you don't need the table structure at all, certainly use DROP.
I think you means the difference between DELETE TABLE and TRUNCATE TABLE.
DROP TABLE
remove the table from the database.
DELETE TABLE
without a condition delete all rows. If there are trigger and references then this will process for every row. Also a index will be modify if there one.
TRUNCATE TABLE
set the row count zero and without logging each row. That it is many faster as the other both.
None of these answer point out an important difference about these two operations. Drop table is an operation that can be rolled back. However, truncate cannot be rolled back ['TRUNCATE TABLE' can be rolled back as well]. In this way dropping a very large table can be very expensive if there are many rows, because they all have to be recorded in a temporary space in case you decide to roll it back.
Usually, if I want to get rid of a large table, I will truncate it, then drop it. This way the data will be nixed without record, and the table can be dropped, and that drop will be very inexpensive because no data needs to be recorded.
It is important to point out though that truncate just deletes data, leaving the table, while drop will, in fact, delete the data and the table itself. (assuming foreign keys don't preclude such an action)
DROP Table
DROP TABLE [table_name];
The DROP command is used to remove a table from the database. It is a DDL command. All the rows, indexes and privileges of the table will also be removed. DROP operation cannot be rolled back.
DELETE Table
DELETE FROM [table_name]
WHERE [condition];
DELETE FROM [table_name];
The DELETE command is a DML command. It can be used to delete all the rows or some rows from the table based on the condition specified in WHERE clause. It is executed using a row lock, each row in the table is locked for deletion. It maintain the transaction log, so it is slower than TRUNCATE.
DELETE operations can be rolled back.
TRUNCATE Table
TRUNCATE TABLE [table_name];
The TRUNCATE command removes all rows from a table. It won't log the deletion of each row, instead it logs the deallocation of the data pages of the table, which makes it faster than DELETE. It is executed using a table lock and whole table is locked for remove all records. It is a DDL command. TRUNCATE operations cannot be rolled back.
TRUNCATE TABLE keeps all of your old indexing and whatnot. DROP TABLE would, obviously, get rid of the table and require you to recreate it later.
Drop gets rid of the table completely, removing the definition as well. Truncate empties the table but does not get rid of the definition.
Truncating the table empties the table. Dropping the table deletes it entirely. Either one will be fast, but dropping it will likely be faster (depending on your database engine).
If you don't need it anymore, drop it so it's not cluttering up your schema.
DELETE TableA instead of TRUNCATE TableA?
A common misconception is that they do the same thing. Not
so. In fact, there are many differences between the two.
DELETE is a logged operation on a per row basis. This means
that the deletion of each row gets logged and physically deleted.
You can DELETE any row that will not violate a constraint, while leaving the foreign key or any other contraint in place.
TRUNCATE is also a logged operation, but in a different way.
TRUNCATE logs the deallocation of the data pages in which the data
exists. The deallocation of data pages means that your data
rows still actually exist in the data pages, but the
extents have been marked as empty for reuse. This is what
makes TRUNCATE a faster operation to perform over DELETE.
You cannot TRUNCATE a table that has any foreign key
constraints. You will have to remove the contraints, TRUNCATE the
table, and reapply the contraints.
TRUNCATE will reset any identity columns to the default seed
value.
truncate removes all the rows, but not the table itself, it is essentially equivalent to deleting with no where clause, but usually faster.
I have a correction for one of the statements above... "truncate cannot be rolled back"
Truncate can be rolled back. There are some cases when you can't do a truncate or drop table, such as when you have a foreign key reference. For a task such as monthly reporting, I'd probably just drop the table once I didn't need it anymore. If I was doing this rollup reporting more often then I'd probably keep the table instead and use truncate.
Hope this helps, here's some more info that you should find useful...
Please see the following article for more details:
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/denis_gobo/archive/2007/06/13/1458.aspx
Also, for more details on delete vs. truncate, see this article:
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/faq/delete_truncate_difference_p1.aspx
Thanks!
Jeff
TRUNCATE TABLE is functionally
identical to DELETE statement with no
WHERE clause: both remove all rows in
the table. But TRUNCATE TABLE is
faster and uses fewer system and
transaction log resources than DELETE.
The DELETE statement removes rows one
at a time and records an entry in the
transaction log for each deleted row.
TRUNCATE TABLE removes the data by
deallocating the data pages used to
store the table's data, and only the
page deallocations are recorded in the
transaction log.
TRUNCATE TABLE removes all rows from a
table, but the table structure and its
columns, constraints, indexes and so
on remain. The counter used by an
identity for new rows is reset to the
seed for the column. If you want to
retain the identity counter, use
DELETE instead. If you want to remove
table definition and its data, use the
DROP TABLE statement.
You cannot use TRUNCATE TABLE on a
table referenced by a FOREIGN KEY
constraint; instead, use DELETE
statement without a WHERE clause.
Because TRUNCATE TABLE is not logged,
it cannot activate a trigger.
TRUNCATE TABLE may not be used on
tables participating in an indexed
view.
From http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa260621(SQL.80).aspx
In the SQL standard, DROP table removes the table and the table schema - TRUNCATE removes all rows.
The answers here match up to the question, but I'm going to answer the question you didn't ask. "Should I use truncate or delete?" If you are removing all rows from a table, you'll typically want to truncate, since it's much much faster. Why is it much faster? At least in the case of Oracle, it resets the high water mark. This is basically a dereferencing of the data and allows the db to reuse it for something else.
DELETE VS TRUNCATE
The DELETE statement removes rows one at a time and records an entry in the transaction
log for each deleted row. TRUNCATE TABLE removes the data by deallocating the data
pages used to store the table data and records only the page deallocations in the
transaction log
We can use WHERE clause in DELETE but in TRUNCATE you cannot use it
When the DELETE statement is executed using a row lock, each row in the table is locked
for deletion. TRUNCATE TABLE always locks the table and page but not each row
After a DELETE statement is executed, the table can still contain empty pages.If the
delete operation does not use a table lock, the table (heap) will contain many empty
pages. For indexes, the delete operation can leave empty pages behind, although these
pages will be deallocated quickly by a background cleanup process
TRUNCATE TABLE removes all rows from a table, but the table structure and its columns,
constraints, indexes, and so on remain
DELETE statement doesn't RESEED identity column but TRUNCATE statement RESEEDS the
IDENTITY column
You cannot use TRUNCATE TABLE on tables that:
Are referenced by a FOREIGN KEY constraint. (You can truncate a table that has a
foreign key that references itself.)
Participate in an indexed view.
Are published by using transactional replication or merge replication
TRUNCATE TABLE cannot activate a trigger because the operation does not log individual
row deletions
Drop
drop whole table and all its structure
truncate
delete all rows from table
it is different from delete that it also delete indexes of rows
Delete Statement
Delete Statement delete table rows and return the number of rows is deleted from the table.in this statement, we use where clause to deleted data from the table
Delete Statement is slower than Truncate statement because it deleted records one by one
Truncate Statement
Truncate statement Deleted or removing all the rows from the table.
It is faster than the Delete Statement because it deleted all the records from the table
Truncate statement not return the no of rows are deleted from the table
Drop statement
Drop statement deleted all records as well as the structure of the table
DELETE
The DELETE command is used to remove rows from a table. A WHERE clause can be used to only remove some rows. If no WHERE condition is specified, all rows will be removed. After performing a DELETE operation you need to
COMMIT or ROLLBACK the transaction to make the change permanent or to undo it.
TRUNCATE
TRUNCATE removes all rows from a table. The operation cannot be rolled back ... As such, TRUCATE is faster and doesn't use as much undo space as a DELETE.
From: http://www.orafaq.com/faq/difference_between_truncate_delete_and_drop_commands