How to Correctly Use Subqueries in MySQL DELETE Statements?

Subquery conditions in MySQL DELETE statement

You may encounter syntax errors when using a subquery as a condition to delete rows from a table. To solve this problem, you need to consider the limitations of using subqueries in DELETE operations.

In MySQL, you cannot use subqueries directly in the WHERE clause of a DELETE statement. However, there is a clever way around this limitation. By using an additional subquery to include the original subquery, the delete operation can be performed successfully.

For example, the following query:

DELETE FROM term_hierarchy AS th
WHERE th.parent = 1015 AND th.tid IN (
    SELECT DISTINCT(th1.tid)
    FROM term_hierarchy AS th1
    INNER JOIN term_hierarchy AS th2 ON (th1.tid = th2.tid AND th2.parent != 1015)
    WHERE th1.parent = 1015
);

will produce a syntax error. However, by wrapping the subquery in another subquery like this:

DELETE e.*
FROM tableE e
WHERE id IN (SELECT id
             FROM (SELECT id
                   FROM tableE
                   WHERE arg = 1 AND foo = 'bar') x);

The delete operation can be performed successfully. Remember that the enclosing subquery should be named, as shown by the "x" alias in the example.

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