How to delete from multiple tables in MySQL?

Question

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?

Answer 1

Use a JOIN in the DELETE statement.

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

Alternatively you can use...

DELETE pa
      FROM pets_activities pa
      JOIN pets p ON pa.id = p.pet_id
 WHERE p.order > :order
   AND p.pet_id = :pet_id

...to delete only from pets_activities

See http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/delete.html

For single table deletes, yet with referential integrity, there are other ways of doing with EXISTS, NOT EXISTS, IN, NOT IN, etc. But the one above where you specify from which tables to delete with an alias before the FROM clause can get you out of a few pretty tight spots more easily. I tend to reach out to an EXISTS in 99% of the cases and then there is the 1% where this MySQL syntax takes the day.

Answer 2

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]

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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

Have a look at this: http://www.electrictoolbox.com/article/mysql/cross-table-delete/

Answer 6

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