[sql] Delete rows from multiple tables using a single query (SQL Express 2005) with a WHERE condition

This is the query I'm using:

 DELETE TB1.*, TB2.*
   FROM TB1
        INNER JOIN TB2 ON TB1.PersonID = TB2.PersonID 
  WHERE (TB1.PersonID)='2'

It's working fine in MS Access but getting error (Incorrect syntax near ','.) in SQL Server Express 2005.

How to solve it? Please help.

Try this query

DELETE TB1, TB2 FROM TB1 INNER JOIN TB2  
WHERE TB1.PersonID = TB2.PersonID and TB1.PersonID = '2'

Specify foreign key for the details tables which references to the primary key of master and set Delete rule = Cascade .

Now when u delete a record from the master table all other details table record based on the deleting rows primary key value, will be deleted automatically.

So in that case a single delete query of master table can delete master tables data as well as child tables data.

DELETE TB1, TB2
    FROM customer_details
        LEFT JOIN customer_booking on TB1.cust_id = TB2.fk_cust_id
    WHERE TB1.cust_id = $id

Why you don't use a DELETE CASCADE FK ?

This cannot be done in one statement. You will have to use 2 statements

DELETE FROM TB1 WHERE PersonID = '2';
DELETE FROM TB2 WHERE PersonID = '2';

I use this for cleaning up data in test/development databases. You can filter by table name and record count.

DECLARE @sqlCommand VARCHAR(3000);
DECLARE @tableList TABLE(Value NVARCHAR(128));
DECLARE @TableName VARCHAR(128);
DECLARE @RecordCount INT;

-- get a cursor with a list of table names and their record counts
DECLARE MyCursor CURSOR FAST_FORWARD
FOR SELECT t.name TableName,
           i.rows Records
    FROM sysobjects t,
         sysindexes i
    WHERE 
          t.xtype = 'U'              -- only User tables
          AND i.id = t.id          
          AND i.indid IN(0, 1)       -- 0=Heap, 1=Clustered Index
          AND i.rows < 10            -- Filter by number of records in the table
          AND t.name LIKE 'Test_%';  -- Filter tables by name. You could also provide a list:
                                     -- AND t.name IN ('MyTable1', 'MyTable2', 'MyTable3');
                                     -- or a list of tables to exclude:
                                     -- AND t.name NOT IN ('MySpecialTable', ... );

OPEN MyCursor;

FETCH NEXT FROM MyCursor INTO @TableName, @RecordCount;

-- for each table name in the cursor, delete all records from that table:
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
    BEGIN
        SET @sqlCommand = 'DELETE FROM ' + @TableName;
        EXEC (@sqlCommand);
        FETCH NEXT FROM MyCursor INTO @TableName, @RecordCount;
    END;

CLOSE MyCursor;
DEALLOCATE MyCursor;

Reference info:

• sysobjects
• sysindexes
• SQL Server Cursors

CREATE PROCEDURE sp_deleteUserDetails
    @Email varchar(255)
AS
    declare @tempRegId as int
    Delete UserRegistration where Email=@Email  
    set @tempRegId = (select Id from UserRegistration where Email = @Email)
    Delete UserProfile where RegID=@tempRegId

RETURN 0

Use this in procedure

declare cu cursor for SELECT [name] FROM sys.Tables where [name] like 'tbl_%'
declare @table varchar(100)
declare @sql nvarchar(1000)

OPEN cu  
FETCH NEXT FROM cu INTO @table 

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0  
BEGIN  
    set @sql = N'delete from ' + @table
    EXEC sp_executesql @sql
    FETCH NEXT FROM cu INTO @table 
END   
CLOSE cu;  
DEALLOCATE cu;

You can use something like the following:

DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR FOR  
SELECT name 
FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases 
WHERE name IN ("TB2","TB1")  -- use these databases

OPEN db_cursor   
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name   


WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0   
BEGIN   

       DELETE FROM @name WHERE PersonID ='2'

       FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name   
END  

$qry = "DELETE lg., l. FROM lessons_game lg RIGHT JOIN lessons l ON lg.lesson_id = l.id WHERE l.id = ?";

lessons is Main table and lessons_game is subtable so Right Join

You cannot DELETE from multiple tables with a single expression in SQL 2005 - or any other standard SQL for that matter. Access is the exception here.

The best method to get this effect is to specify FOREIGN KEYS between the table with an ON DELETE trigger.

As i know, you can't do it in a sentence.

But you can build an stored procedure that do the deletes you want in whatever table in a transaction, what is almost the same.

I don't think you can delete from multiple tables at once (though I'm not certain).

It sounds to me, however, that you would be best to achieve this effect with a relationship that cascades deletes. If you did this you would be able to delete the record from one table and the records in the other would be automatically deleted.

As an example, say the two tables represent a customer, and the customer's orders. If you setup the relationship to cascade deletes, you could simply delete record in the customer table, and the orders would get deleted automatically.

See the MSDN doc on cascading referential integrity constraints.