TRUNCATE SQL - Language Statements TRUNCATE empty a table TRUNCATE TRUNCATE [ TABLE ] name TRUNCATE quickly removes all rows from a table. It has the same effect as an unqualified DELETE but since it does not actually scan the table it is faster. This is most useful on large tables. name The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the table to be truncated. TRUNCATE TABLE Message returned if the table was successfully truncated. Truncate the table bigtable: TRUNCATE TABLE bigtable; There is no TRUNCATE command in the SQL standard.