Delete TOP - SQL Server Database

In SQL Server Database, the DELETE statement is used to remove one or more rows from a table. The TOP keyword, when used with DELETE statement, specifies the number of rows to be deleted from the beginning of the result set. In this page, we will discuss how to use the DELETE TOP statement in SQL Server Database.

Syntax

The basic syntax of the DELETE TOP statement is as follows:

DELETE TOP (expression) FROM table_name WHERE condition;

Here, expression is a numeric or integer value that specifies the number of rows to be deleted.

Example

Consider the following table named Employee:

ID	Name	Salary
1	John	50000
2	Mary	60000
3	Alex	70000
4	Tom	45000
5	Jack	55000

To delete the first two rows (rows with IDs 1 and 2) from the Employee table, the following SQL code can be used:

DELETE TOP (2) FROM Employee WHERE ID IN (SELECT TOP (2) ID FROM Employee);

This code will delete the two rows from the table where the ID is in the list of the first two rows from the Employee table.

Output

Once the code is executed, the rows will be deleted from the Employee table. In this example, the output will be as follows:

ID	Name	Salary
3	Alex	70000
4	Tom	45000
5	Jack	55000

Explanation

The DELETE TOP statement with WHERE condition is used to delete a specific number of rows from the beginning of the result set. The WHERE clause is used to specify the condition that needs to be met in order to delete the rows.

In the example above, we used the DELETE statement with the TOP operator to delete the first two rows from the Employee table, where the ID is in the list of the first two rows from the Employee table.

Use

The DELETE TOP statement is particularly useful when you need to delete a specific number of rows from a table based on a condition. It is also useful when you need to delete a large number of rows from a table, but want to do it in small increments so that other users can still access the table while the deletion is taking place.

Important Points

• The DELETE TOP statement is used to a specific number of rows from a table based on a condition.
• The WHERE clause is used to specify the condition that needs to be met in order to delete the rows.
• The DELETE TOP statement is particularly useful when you need to delete a large number of rows from a table in small increments.

Summary

In this page, we discussed how to use the DELETE TOP statement SQL Server Database. We covered the syntax, example, output, explanation, use, and important points of the DELETE TOP statement. By using this statement, you can delete a specific number of rows from a table based on a condition.