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+<!--
+doc/src/sgml/ref/truncate.sgml
+PostgreSQL documentation
+-->
+
+<refentry id="sql-truncate">
+ <indexterm zone="sql-truncate">
+ <primary>TRUNCATE</primary>
+ </indexterm>
+
+ <refmeta>
+ <refentrytitle>TRUNCATE</refentrytitle>
+ <manvolnum>7</manvolnum>
+ <refmiscinfo>SQL - Language Statements</refmiscinfo>
+ </refmeta>
+
+ <refnamediv>
+ <refname>TRUNCATE</refname>
+ <refpurpose>empty a table or set of tables</refpurpose>
+ </refnamediv>
+
+ <refsynopsisdiv>
+<synopsis>
+TRUNCATE [ TABLE ] [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable> [ * ] [, ... ]
+ [ RESTART IDENTITY | CONTINUE IDENTITY ] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]
+</synopsis>
+ </refsynopsisdiv>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Description</title>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>TRUNCATE</command> quickly removes all rows from a set of
+ tables. It has the same effect as an unqualified
+ <command>DELETE</command> on each table, but since it does not actually
+ scan the tables it is faster. Furthermore, it reclaims disk space
+ immediately, rather than requiring a subsequent <command>VACUUM</command>
+ operation. This is most useful on large tables.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Parameters</title>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The name (optionally schema-qualified) of a table to truncate.
+ If <literal>ONLY</literal> is specified before the table name, only that table
+ is truncated. If <literal>ONLY</literal> is not specified, the table and all
+ its descendant tables (if any) are truncated. Optionally, <literal>*</literal>
+ can be specified after the table name to explicitly indicate that
+ descendant tables are included.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>RESTART IDENTITY</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Automatically restart sequences owned by columns of
+ the truncated table(s).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>CONTINUE IDENTITY</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Do not change the values of sequences. This is the default.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>CASCADE</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Automatically truncate all tables that have foreign-key references
+ to any of the named tables, or to any tables added to the group
+ due to <literal>CASCADE</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>RESTRICT</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Refuse to truncate if any of the tables have foreign-key references
+ from tables that are not listed in the command. This is the default.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Notes</title>
+
+ <para>
+ You must have the <literal>TRUNCATE</literal> privilege on a table
+ to truncate it.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>TRUNCATE</command> acquires an <literal>ACCESS EXCLUSIVE</literal> lock on each
+ table it operates on, which blocks all other concurrent operations
+ on the table. When <literal>RESTART IDENTITY</literal> is specified, any
+ sequences that are to be restarted are likewise locked exclusively.
+ If concurrent access to a table is required, then
+ the <command>DELETE</command> command should be used instead.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>TRUNCATE</command> cannot be used on a table that has foreign-key
+ references from other tables, unless all such tables are also truncated
+ in the same command. Checking validity in such cases would require table
+ scans, and the whole point is not to do one. The <literal>CASCADE</literal>
+ option can be used to automatically include all dependent tables &mdash;
+ but be very careful when using this option, or else you might lose data you
+ did not intend to!
+ Note in particular that when the table to be truncated is a partition,
+ siblings partitions are left untouched, but cascading occurs to all
+ referencing tables and all their partitions with no distinction.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>TRUNCATE</command> will not fire any <literal>ON DELETE</literal>
+ triggers that might exist for the tables. But it will fire
+ <literal>ON TRUNCATE</literal> triggers.
+ If <literal>ON TRUNCATE</literal> triggers are defined for any of
+ the tables, then all <literal>BEFORE TRUNCATE</literal> triggers are
+ fired before any truncation happens, and all <literal>AFTER
+ TRUNCATE</literal> triggers are fired after the last truncation is
+ performed and any sequences are reset.
+ The triggers will fire in the order that the tables are
+ to be processed (first those listed in the command, and then any
+ that were added due to cascading).
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>TRUNCATE</command> is not MVCC-safe. After truncation, the table will
+ appear empty to concurrent transactions, if they are using a snapshot
+ taken before the truncation occurred.
+ See <xref linkend="mvcc-caveats"/> for more details.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>TRUNCATE</command> is transaction-safe with respect to the data
+ in the tables: the truncation will be safely rolled back if the surrounding
+ transaction does not commit.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ When <literal>RESTART IDENTITY</literal> is specified, the implied
+ <command>ALTER SEQUENCE RESTART</command> operations are also done
+ transactionally; that is, they will be rolled back if the surrounding
+ transaction does not commit. Be aware that if any additional
+ sequence operations are done on the restarted sequences before the
+ transaction rolls back, the effects of these operations on the sequences
+ will be rolled back, but not their effects on <function>currval()</function>;
+ that is, after the transaction <function>currval()</function> will continue to
+ reflect the last sequence value obtained inside the failed transaction,
+ even though the sequence itself may no longer be consistent with that.
+ This is similar to the usual behavior of <function>currval()</function> after
+ a failed transaction.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <command>TRUNCATE</command> can be used for foreign tables if
+ supported by the foreign data wrapper, for instance,
+ see <xref linkend="postgres-fdw"/>.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Examples</title>
+
+ <para>
+ Truncate the tables <literal>bigtable</literal> and
+ <literal>fattable</literal>:
+
+<programlisting>
+TRUNCATE bigtable, fattable;
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ The same, and also reset any associated sequence generators:
+
+<programlisting>
+TRUNCATE bigtable, fattable RESTART IDENTITY;
+</programlisting>
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Truncate the table <literal>othertable</literal>, and cascade to any tables
+ that reference <literal>othertable</literal> via foreign-key
+ constraints:
+
+<programlisting>
+TRUNCATE othertable CASCADE;
+</programlisting></para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>Compatibility</title>
+
+ <para>
+ The SQL:2008 standard includes a <command>TRUNCATE</command> command
+ with the syntax <literal>TRUNCATE TABLE
+ <replaceable>tablename</replaceable></literal>. The clauses
+ <literal>CONTINUE IDENTITY</literal>/<literal>RESTART IDENTITY</literal>
+ also appear in that standard, but have slightly different though related
+ meanings. Some of the concurrency behavior of this command is left
+ implementation-defined by the standard, so the above notes should be
+ considered and compared with other implementations if necessary.
+ </para>
+ </refsect1>
+
+ <refsect1>
+ <title>See Also</title>
+
+ <simplelist type="inline">
+ <member><xref linkend="sql-delete"/></member>
+ </simplelist>
+ </refsect1>
+</refentry>