Php code to delete all records...should it be working

Question

Should this delete all records in my SQL table?

<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","bikemap","pedalhard");
if (!$con)
  {
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  }

mysql_select_db("test", $con);

mysql_query("DELETE * FROM gpsdata");

mysql_close($con);
?>

Answer 1

The DELETE syntax doesn't allow a star between DELETE and FROM. Try this instead:

mysql_query("DELETE FROM gpsdata");

Answer 2

You might want to check out MySQL's Truncate command. That should remove all records easily.

Answer 3

DELETE differs from Truncate. But if your use case is simple, go to any one.

Truncate

• DDL command
• You can't rollback
• Table Structure will be re-created.
• Your indexes will be lost.
• Will delete all rows.

DELETE

• DML command
• You can rollback.
• Structure remains as it is.
• You can specify a range of rows to delete.