Delete first X lines of a database

Question

is there an SQL command to delete the first X lines of a database table?

I have a database table containing some information but no id or auto-incrementing value and

Answer 1

Use LIMIT on your delete:

DELETE FROM table WHERE condition LIMIT 10

Or, if you don't want the condition

DELETE FROM table LIMIT 10

Remember that the order in which rows will be deleted is undefined - it depends on your DBMS configuration and table indices. You should include an ORDER BY so that the deletion is done in a defined order, e.g. ORDER BY id ASC to delete the lowest IDs first.

See the MySQL documentation for DELETE for more details.