delete rows from multiple tables

Question

I'm trying to use SQL to delete multiple rows from multiple tables that are joined together.

Table A is joined to Table B Table B is joined to Table C

I want to delete all rows in table B & C that correspond to a row in Table A

CREATE TABLE `boards` (
  `boardid` int(2) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `boardname` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`boardid`)
);

-- --------------------------------------------------------

-- 
-- Table structure for table `messages`
-- 

CREATE TABLE `messages` (
  `messageid` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `boardid` int(2) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `topicid` int(4) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `message` text NOT NULL,
  `author` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `date` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`messageid`)
);

-- --------------------------------------------------------

-- 
-- Table structure for table `topics`
-- 

CREATE TABLE `topics` (
  `topicid` int(4) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `boardid` int(2) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
  `topicname` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `author` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`topicid`)
);

Answer 1

Well, if you had used InnoDB tables, you could set up a cascading delete with foreign keys that would do it all automatically. But if you have some reason for using MyISAM, You just use a multiple-table DELETE:

DELETE FROM boards, topics, messages
USING boards INNER JOIN topics INNER JOIN messages
WHERE boards.boardid = $boardid
    AND topics.boardid = boards.boardid
    AND messages.boardid = boards.boardid;

Answer 2

this can be done by your db-system if you are using foreign keys with "on delete cascade".

Take a look here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/innodb-foreign-key-constraints.html