[mysql] How to delete from multiple tables in MySQL?

I am trying to delete from a few tables at once. I've done a bit of research, and came up with this

DELETE FROM `pets` p,
            `pets_activities` pa
      WHERE p.`order` > :order
        AND p.`pet_id` = :pet_id
        AND pa.`id` = p.`pet_id`

However, I am getting this error

Uncaught Database_Exception [ 1064 ]: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'p, pets_activities pa...

I've never done a cross table delete before, so I'm inexperienced and stuck for now!

What am I doing wrong?

To anyone reading this in 2017, this is how I've done something similar.

DELETE pets, pets_activities FROM pets inner join pets_activities
on pets_activities.id = pets.id WHERE pets.`order` > :order AND 
pets.`pet_id` = :pet_id

Generally, to delete rows from multiple tables, the syntax I follow is given below. The solution is based on an assumption that there is some relation between the two tables.

DELETE table1, table2 FROM table1 inner join table2 on table2.id = table1.id
WHERE [conditions]

I don't have a mysql database to test on at the moment, but have you tried specifying what to delete prior to the from clause? For example:

DELETE p, pa FROM `pets` p,
        `pets_activities` pa
  WHERE p.`order` > :order
    AND p.`pet_id` = :pet_id
    AND pa.`id` = p.`pet_id`

I think the syntax you used is limited to newer versions of mysql.

I found this article which showing you how to delete data from multiple tables by using MySQL DELETE JOIN statement with good explanation.

Since this appears to be a simple parent/child relationship between pets and pets_activities, you would be better off creating your foreign key constraint with a deleting cascade.

That way, when a pets row is deleted, the pets_activities rows associated with it are automatically deleted as well.

Then your query becomes a simple:

delete from `pets`
    where `order` > :order
      and `pet_id` = :pet_id

The syntax looks right to me ... try to change it to use INNER JOIN ...

Have a look at this.

Use this

DELETE FROM `articles`, `comments` 
USING `articles`,`comments` 
WHERE `comments`.`article_id` = `articles`.`id` AND `articles`.`id` = 4

or

DELETE `articles`, `comments` 
FROM `articles`, `comments` 
WHERE `comments`.`article_id` = `articles`.`id` AND `articles`.`id` = 4