spark-instrumented-optimizer/docs/sql-ref-syntax-ddl-truncate-table.md

---
layout: global
title: TRUNCATE TABLE
displayTitle: TRUNCATE TABLE
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---

### Description

The `TRUNCATE TABLE` statement removes all the rows from a table or partition(s). The table must not be a view 
or an external/temporary table. In order to truncate multiple partitions at once, the user can specify the partitions 
in `partition_spec`. If no `partition_spec` is specified it will remove all partitions in the table.

### Syntax

{% highlight sql %}
TRUNCATE TABLE table_identifier [ partition_spec ]
{% endhighlight %}

### Parameters

<dl>
  <dt><code><em>table_identifier</em></code></dt>
  <dd>
    Specifies a table name, which may be optionally qualified with a database name.<br><br>
    <b>Syntax:</b>
      <code>
        [ database_name. ] table_name
      </code>
  </dd>
</dl>
<dl>
  <dt><code><em>partition_spec</em></code></dt>
  <dd>
    An optional parameter that specifies a comma separated list of key and value pairs
    for partitions.<br><br>
    <b>Syntax:</b>
      <code>
        PARTITION ( partition_col_name  = partition_col_val [ , ... ] )
      </code>
  </dd>
</dl>

### Examples

{% highlight sql %}
-- Create table Student with partition
CREATE TABLE Student (name STRING, rollno INT) PARTITIONED BY (age INT);

SELECT * from Student;
  +----+------+---+
  |name|rollno|age|
  +----+------+---+
  | ABC|     1| 10|
  | DEF|     2| 10|
  | XYZ|     3| 12|
  +----+------+---+

-- Removes all rows from the table in the partition specified
TRUNCATE TABLE Student partition(age=10);

-- After truncate execution, records belonging to partition age=10 are removed
SELECT * from Student;
  +----+------+---+
  |name|rollno|age|
  +----+------+---+
  | XYZ|     3| 12|
  +----+------+---+

-- Removes all rows from the table from all partitions
TRUNCATE TABLE Student;

SELECT * from Student;
  +----+------+---+
  |name|rollno|age|
  +----+------+---+
  +----+------+---+
{% endhighlight %}

### Related Statements

 * [DROP TABLE](sql-ref-syntax-ddl-drop-table.html)
 * [ALTER TABLE](sql-ref-syntax-ddl-alter-table.html)