PHP MySQLi Delete Data from Database

This article is created to describe the way to delete or remove the data from MySQL database using PHP MySQLi object-oriented and procedural script.

Either we approach object-oriented or procedural, the steps to delete data from database are same, that are:

• Open a connection to the database
• Write an SQL statement regarding the data deletion
• Initialize it to a variable
• Use this variable to perform the data deletion query against the MySQL database
• Close the connection to database

Note - Be aware while deleting the data from database. Always use the WHERE clause to delete specific record (row). Otherwise, the whole record will be deleted.

Before writing and executing the PHP MySQLi script to delete data from database, let me show you the table, I am going to work with, in this article:

PHP MySQLi Delete Data using Object-Oriented Script

<?php
   $server = "localhost";
   $user = "root";
   $pass = "";
   $db = "fresherearth";
   
   $conn = new mysqli($server, $user, $pass, $db);
   
   if($conn->connect_errno)
   {
      echo "Database connection failed!<BR>";
      echo "Reason: ", $conn->connect_error;
      exit();
   }
   
   $sql = "DELETE FROM `customer` WHERE id='3'";
   
   $qry = $conn->query($sql);
   if($qry)
   {
      echo "Data deleted successfully.";
      
      // block of code, to process further
   }
   else
   {
      echo "Something went wrong!<BR>";
      echo "Error Description: ", $conn->error;
   }
   $conn->close();
?>

The output produced by above PHP example on deleting data from database, is shown in the snapshot given below:

And after executing the above script, here is the new snapshot of the table named customer:

Note - The mysqli() is used to open a connection to the MySQL database server, in object-oriented style.

Note - The new keyword is used to create a new object.

Note - The connect_errno is used to get/return the error code (if any) from last connect call, in object-oriented style.

Note - The connect_error is used to get the error description (if any) from last connection, in object-oriented style.

Note - The exit() is used to terminate the execution of the current PHP script.

Note - The query() is used to perform query on the MySQL database, in object-oriented style.

Note - The error is used to return the description of error (if any), by the most recent function call, in object-oriented style.

Note - The close() is used to close an opened connection, in object-oriented style.

The above example can also be written in this way:

<?php
   $conn = new mysqli("localhost", "root", "", "fresherearth");
   
   if(!$conn->connect_errno)
      $qry = $conn->query("DELETE FROM `customer` WHERE id='5'");
   
   $conn->close();
?>

PHP MySQLi Delete Data using Procedural Script

<?php
   $conn = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "", "fresherearth");
   
   if(!mysqli_connect_errno())
   {
      $sql = "DELETE FROM `customer` WHERE id='3'";
      
      if(mysqli_query($conn, $sql))
      {
         echo "Data removed successfully.";
         // block of code, to process further
      }
   }
   mysqli_close($conn);
?>

Note - The mysqli_connect() is used to open a connection to the MySQL database server, in procedural style.

Note - The mysqli_connect_errno() is used to get/return the error code (if any) from last connect call, in procedural style.

Note - The mysqli_query() is used to perform query on the MySQL database, in procedural style.

Note - The mysqli_close() is used to close an opened connection to the MySQL database, in procedural style.

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