DELETE statement: Remove specific rows with WHERE clause, understand row-by-row processing and transaction logging

TRUNCATE statement: Fast table clearing, minimal logging, identity/sequence reset behavior

Performance comparison: DELETE vs TRUNCATE speed differences (100x-1000x faster), when to use each operation

Foreign key cascades: ON DELETE CASCADE, ON DELETE SET NULL, referential integrity during deletions

Safe deletion patterns: Archive-then-delete, soft deletes, batch deletion strategies for large datasets

Transaction behavior: DELETE rollback support, TRUNCATE transaction differences across databases

Database-specific differences: PostgreSQL TRUNCATE CASCADE, MySQL AUTO_INCREMENT reset, SQL Server IDENTITY behavior

Production best practices: Backup before delete, test on subset, monitor locks, avoid accidental full table deletes

DELETE statement: Remove specific rows with WHERE clause, understand row-by-row processing and transaction logging

TRUNCATE statement: Fast table clearing, minimal logging, identity/sequence reset behavior

Performance comparison: DELETE vs TRUNCATE speed differences (100x-1000x faster), when to use each operation

Foreign key cascades: ON DELETE CASCADE, ON DELETE SET NULL, referential integrity during deletions

Safe deletion patterns: Archive-then-delete, soft deletes, batch deletion strategies for large datasets

Transaction behavior: DELETE rollback support, TRUNCATE transaction differences across databases

Database-specific differences: PostgreSQL TRUNCATE CASCADE, MySQL AUTO_INCREMENT reset, SQL Server IDENTITY behavior

Production best practices: Backup before delete, test on subset, monitor locks, avoid accidental full table deletes