what does “delete from table where NULL = NULL” means?

Question

What does delete from table where NULL = NULL mean?

Answer 1

Recap:

mysql> select null = null, null <> null, null is null, null = 1, null <> 1;
+-------------+--------------+--------------+----------+-----------+
| null = null | null <> null | null is null | null = 1 | null <> 1 |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+----------+-----------+
|        NULL |         NULL |            1 |     NULL |      NULL |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+----------+-----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)


mysql> select count(*) from table;
+----------+
| count(*) |
+----------+
|     10   |
+----------+
1 row in set (0.33 sec)


mysql> select * from table where null;
Empty set (0.00 sec)

Meaning, if a condition evaluates to null it is considered false by MySql so delete from table where NULL = NULL will in fact delete nothing.

NULL is a special beast as noted by Codd