TRUNCATE v11

Name

TRUNCATE -- empty a table.

Synopsis

TRUNCATE TABLE <name> [DROP STORAGE]

Description

TRUNCATE quickly removes all rows from a table. It has the same effect as an unqualified DELETE but since it does not actually scan the table, it is faster. This is most useful on large tables.

The DROP STORAGE clause is accepted for compatibility, but is ignored.

Parameters

name

The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to be truncated.

Notes

TRUNCATE cannot be used if there are foreign-key references to the table from other tables. Checking validity in such cases would require table scans, and the whole point is not to do one.

TRUNCATE will not run any user-defined ON DELETE triggers that might exist for the table.

Examples

The following command truncates a table named accounts:

TRUNCATE TABLE accounts;

See Also

DROP VIEW, DELETE