PHP MySQL Delete

In this tutorial you'll learn how to delete records from a MySQL table using PHP.

## Deleting Database Table Data
Just as you insert records into tables, you can delete records from a table using the SQL [DELETE](http://www.bixiaguangnian.com/manual/sql/3401.html "DELETE") statement. It is typically used in conjugation with the `WHERE` clause to delete only those records that matches specific criteria or condition.

The basic syntax of the `DELETE` statement can be given with:

```sql
DELETE FROM table_name WHERE column_name=some_value
```
Let's make a SQL query using the `DELETE` statement and `WHERE` clause, after that we will execute this query through passing it to the PHP `mysqli_query()` function to delete the tables records. Consider the following persons table inside the demo database:

```php
<?php
/* Attempt MySQL server connection. Assuming you are running MySQL
server with default setting (user 'root' with no password) */
$link = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "", "demo");
 
// Check connection
if($link === false){
    die("ERROR: Could not connect. " . mysqli_connect_error());
}
 
// Attempt delete query execution
$sql = "DELETE FROM persons WHERE first_name='John'";
if(mysqli_query($link, $sql)){
    echo "Records were deleted successfully.";
} else{
    echo "ERROR: Could not able to execute $sql. " . mysqli_error($link);
}
 
// Close connection
mysqli_close($link);
?>
```
After the deletion the persons table will look something like this:

<div class="callout callout-warning mb-3">Warning: The WHERE clause in the DELETE statement specifies which record or records should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records will be deleted.</div>