Valid in: SQL, ESQL, DBProc, OpenAPI, ODBC, JDBC, .NET

The DELETE statement deletes rows from the specified table that satisfy the search_condition in the WHERE clause. If the WHERE clause is omitted, the statement deletes all rows in the table. The result is a valid but empty table.

The DELETE statement does not automatically recover the space in a table left by the deleted rows. However, if new rows are added later, the empty space can be reused. To recover lost space after deleting many rows from a table, modify the table. To delete all rows from a table, use MODIFY...TO TRUNCATED (see page MODIFY).