## Synopsis

Use the `TRUNCATE` statement to remove all rows from a specified table.

## Syntax

### Diagram

<svg class="rrdiagram" version="1.1" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="303" height="50" viewbox="0 0 303 50"><path class="connector" d="M0 22h5m84 0h30m58 0h20m-93 0q5 0 5 5v8q0 5 5 5h68q5 0 5-5v-8q0-5 5-5m5 0h10m91 0h5"/><rect class="literal" x="5" y="5" width="84" height="25" rx="7"/><text class="text" x="15" y="22">TRUNCATE</text><rect class="literal" x="119" y="5" width="58" height="25" rx="7"/><text class="text" x="129" y="22">TABLE</text><a xlink:href="../grammar_diagrams#table-name"><rect class="rule" x="207" y="5" width="91" height="25"/><text class="text" x="217" y="22">table_name</text></a></svg>

### Grammar

```ebnf
truncate ::= TRUNCATE [ TABLE ] table_name;
```

Where

- `table_name` is an identifier (possibly qualified with a keyspace name).

## Semantics

- An error is raised if the specified `table_name` does not exist.

## Examples

### Truncate a table

```sql
ycqlsh:example> CREATE TABLE employees(department_id INT,
                                      employee_id INT,
                                      name TEXT,
                                      PRIMARY KEY(department_id, employee_id));
```

```sql
ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO employees(department_id, employee_id, name) VALUES (1, 1, 'John');
```

```sql
ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO employees(department_id, employee_id, name) VALUES (1, 2, 'Jane');
```

```sql
ycqlsh:example> INSERT INTO employees(department_id, employee_id, name) VALUES (2, 1, 'Joe');
```

```sql
ycqlsh:example> SELECT * FROM employees;
```

```output
 department_id | employee_id | name
---------------+-------------+------
             2 |           1 |  Joe
             1 |           1 | John
             1 |           2 | Jane
```

Remove all rows from the table.

```sql
ycqlsh:example> TRUNCATE employees;
```

```sql
ycqlsh:example> SELECT * FROM employees;
```

```output
 department_id | employee_id | name
---------------+-------------+------
```

## See also

- [`CREATE TABLE`](../ddl_create_table)
- [`INSERT`](../dml_insert)
- [`SELECT`](../dml_select/)
- [`UPDATE`](../dml_update/)
- [`DELETE`](../dml_delete/)