SQL SERVER | Advantages of Truncate table command over delete? | SQL Interview Question

In this post we shall understand the advantages of Truncate table command over delete command with the new changes happened in SQL Server 2016. We shall also discuss the permission to needed to perform the Truncate table command.

A Truncate command removes all rows from a table or specified partitions of a table, without logging the individual row deletions. TRUNCATE TABLE is similar to the DELETE statement with no WHERE clause; however, TRUNCATE TABLE is faster and uses fewer system and transaction log resources.

Syntax for SQL – Truncate a Table

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TRUNCATE TABLE DatabaseName.Schema_Name.TableName;
GO

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Syntax for SQL – B. Truncate Table Partitions | SQL Server 2016 and further versions

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TRUNCATE TABLE PartitionedTableName WITH (PARTITIONS (1,2,3));  
GO  

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Note – The above command can be used with SQL Server 2016 and further versions.

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TRUNCATE TABLE advantages-(Microsoft)

1. Less transaction log space is used.
The DELETE statement removes rows one at a time and records an entry in the transaction log for each deleted row. TRUNCATE TABLE removes the data by deallocating the data pages used to store the table data and records only the page deallocations in the transaction log.

2. Fewer locks are typically used.
When the DELETE statement is executed using a row lock, each row in the table is locked for deletion. TRUNCATE TABLE always locks the table (including a schema (SCH-M) lock) and page but not each row.

3. Without exception, zero pages are left in the table.
After a DELETE statement is executed, the table can still contain empty pages. For example, empty pages in a heap cannot be deallocated without at least an exclusive (LCK_M_X) table lock. If the delete operation does not use a table lock, the table (heap) will contain many empty pages. For indexes, the delete operation can leave empty pages behind, although these pages will be deallocated quickly by a background cleanup process.

What Permission you need to perform the Truncate Table command

The minimum permission required is ALTER on table_name. TRUNCATE TABLE permissions default to the table owner, members of the sysadmin fixed server role, and the db_owner and db_ddladmin fixed database roles, and are not transferable. However, you can incorporate the TRUNCATE TABLE statement within a module, such as a stored procedure, and grant appropriate permissions to the module using the EXECUTE AS clause.

Reference

Reference Reading-

Thank You.

Pawan Khowal

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