How to Truncate a Table in MySQL

Last updated July 24, 2026 · By the SaturnSQL team

TRUNCATE TABLE removes all rows by dropping and recreating the table, which is much faster than DELETE and resets AUTO_INCREMENT. It cannot be rolled back in InnoDB, so be sure first.

TRUNCATE TABLE session_logs;

TRUNCATE fails if the table is referenced by a foreign key from another table; DELETE FROM (slower, rollback-able, keeps AUTO_INCREMENT) is the fallback.

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