Delete any records in table 1 that are not in table 2 (tables joined on 2 columns)

I have two tables. The primary key for both tables is comprised of 2 columns.

How do I delete any records in table 1 that are not in table 2.

e.g.

if this was the data in the 2 tables

Table 1

col1 col2 col 3

0 0 0

0 1 0

Table 2

col1 col2 col3

0 0 0

I would like to delete the records containg the values 0, 1, 0 from table 1 because the is no record in table 2 with the values 0, 1 as the primary key.

Hi,

You can do this as follow (by suggesting that COL1 and COL2 are the key columns):

DELETE FROM table1
FROM table1
LEFT OUTER JOIN table2
ON table1.COL1 = table2.col1
AND table1.COL2 = table2.col2
WHERE table2.COL1 IS NULL

Greetz,

Geert

Geert Verhoeven
Consultant @. Ausy Belgium

My Personal Blog

|||Thanks a million. It seems strange to me the way the From caluse is included twice but it works!|||

the following query will do..

Delete from table1 Where Not Exists(Select 1 From table2 Where table1.Col1=Table2.Col1 and Table1.Col2=Table2.Col2)