Java and Oracle – Deleting Data

In order to delete data in an Oracle database, the SQL ‘Delete’ statement needs to be used. The following example deletes a record with a specific ‘id’ from the ‘person’ table, which was used in the examples for selecting, inserting and updating data.

Deleting data works in a similar way to the other examples, where a parameterised query is used. Firstly, a connection to the database is established, then the query parameter for the ‘id’ of the record to be deleted is defined as a variable, which is bound in to the following SQL statement. The SQL statement is then executed and a confirmation message is displayed. The execution of the SQL statement is wrapped in a ‘try-catch’ block to catch any errors that may arise.

import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.sql.SQLException;

public class DemoOracle {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Connection variable.
        Connection connect = null;

        try {

            // Connect to database.
            connect = DriverManager.getConnection(
                    "jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:XE",
                    "DemoUN", "DemoPW");

        } catch (SQLException e) {

            // Confirm unsuccessful connection and stop program execution.
            System.out.println("Database connection unsuccessful.");
            System.exit(0);

        }

        // Query parameter.
        Integer id = 2;

        // SQL to delete data in the person table.
        String sqlDelete =
                "DELETE FROM person " +
                "WHERE id = ?";

        try {

            // Create statement and bind the parameter.
            PreparedStatement statement = connect.prepareStatement(sqlDelete);
            statement.setInt(1, id);

            // Execute query.
            statement.executeUpdate();

            // Confirm successful deletion of person information.
            System.out.println("Person information deleted successfully.");

            // Close the statement and database connection.
            statement.close();
            connect.close();

        } catch (SQLException e) {

            // Confirm error deleting person information and quit.
            System.out.println("Error deleting person information.");
            System.exit(0);

        }

    }

}

The contents of the ‘person’ table now looks as follows.

id firstname lastname title dob
1 Bob Smith Mr 1980-01-20
3 Fred Bloggs Mr 1975-05-07
4 Alan White Mr 1989-03-20
5 Fiona Bloggs Mrs 1985-05-19