How to empty a very large mysql table?

Question

Whenever I try to empty a large table so using

truncate table the_huge_table;

and wait for several minutes, I see nothing take place. On the other hand I do not want to remove the entire table because not sure how to regenerate it so wondering what is the best way to easily empty this monster?

Answer 1

SHOW CREATE TABLE the_huge_table will show you how to recreate the table if you drop it.

Another option is to clone the table structure:

CREATE TABLE cloned LIKE the_huge_table;
RENAME TABLE the_huge_table TO drop_me, cloned TO the_huge_table;
DROP TABLE drop_me;