# PartiQL delete statements for DynamoDB
<a name="ql-reference.delete"></a>

Use the `DELETE` statement to delete an existing item from your Amazon DynamoDB table.

**Note**  
You can only delete one item at a time. You cannot issue a single DynamoDB PartiQL statement that deletes multiple items. For information on deleting multiple items, see [Performing transactions with PartiQL for DynamoDB](ql-reference.multiplestatements.transactions.md) or [Running batch operations with PartiQL for DynamoDB](ql-reference.multiplestatements.batching.md).

**Topics**
+ [Syntax](#ql-reference.delete.syntax)
+ [Parameters](#ql-reference.delete.parameters)
+ [Return value](#ql-reference.delete.return)
+ [Examples](#ql-reference.delete.examples)

## Syntax
<a name="ql-reference.delete.syntax"></a>

```
DELETE FROM table 
 WHERE condition [RETURNING returnvalues]
 <returnvalues>  ::= ALL OLD *
```

## Parameters
<a name="ql-reference.delete.parameters"></a>

***table***  
(Required) The DynamoDB table containing the item to be deleted.

***condition***  
(Required) The selection criteria for the item to be deleted; this condition must resolve to a single primary key value.

***returnvalues***  
(Optional) Use `returnvalues` if you want to get the item attributes as they appeared before they were deleted. The valid values are:   
+ `ALL OLD *`- The content of the old item is returned.

## Return value
<a name="ql-reference.delete.return"></a>

This statement does not return a value unless `returnvalues` parameter is specified.

**Note**  
If the DynamoDB table does not have any item with the same primary key as that of the item for which the DELETE is issued, SUCCESS is returned with 0 items deleted. If the table has an item with same primary key, but the condition in the WHERE clause of the DELETE statement evaluates to false, `ConditionalCheckFailedException` is returned.

## Examples
<a name="ql-reference.delete.examples"></a>

The following query deletes an item in the `"Music"` table.

```
DELETE FROM "Music" WHERE "Artist" = 'Acme Band' AND "SongTitle" = 'PartiQL Rocks'
```

You can add the parameter `RETURNING ALL OLD *` to return the data that was deleted.

```
DELETE FROM "Music" WHERE "Artist" = 'Acme Band' AND "SongTitle" = 'PartiQL Rocks' RETURNING ALL OLD *
```

The `Delete` statement now returns the following:

```
{
    "Items": [
        {
            "Artist": {
                "S": "Acme Band"
            },
            "SongTitle": {
                "S": "PartiQL Rocks"
            }
        }
    ]
}
```