MySQL delete with nested select query

Question

I have the following MySQL query:

DELETE FROM catalogue 
WHERE catalogue_id IN (
  SELECT catalogue_id 
  FROM catalogue 
  WHERE (
    product_id = (SELECT product_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290') 
    AND length_id = (SELECT length_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290') 
    AND gauge_id = (SELECT gauge_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290')
  )
)

But when I attempt to execute I get the following error message:

You can't specify target table 'catalogue' for update in FROM clause

Could someone advise on where I'm going wrong?

Answer 1

Perform double nesting

DELETE FROM catalogue 
WHERE catalogue_id IN (SELECT catalogue_id FROM (
  SELECT catalogue_id 
  FROM catalogue 
  WHERE (
    product_id = (SELECT product_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290') 
    AND length_id = (SELECT length_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290') 
    AND gauge_id = (SELECT gauge_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290')
  )) x
)

It fools mysql

Answer 2

Or you can use temporary table:

  CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE t AS
  SELECT catalogue_id 
  FROM catalogue 
  WHERE (
    product_id = (SELECT product_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290') 
    AND length_id = (SELECT length_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290') 
    AND gauge_id = (SELECT gauge_id FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id = '2290')
  );

  DELETE FROM catalogue WHERE catalogue_id IN (SELECT catalogue_id FROM t);

With your query you got You can't specify target table 'catalogue' for update in FROM clause because you can't make select and update on the same table in one query.