SQLite Python: Deleting Data

Summary: this tutorial shows you how to delete data in the SQLite database from a Python program using the sqlite3 module.

In order to delete data in the SQLite database from a Python program, you use the following steps:

1. First, establish a connection the SQLite database by creating a Connection object using the connect() function.
2. Second, to execute a DELETE statement, you need to create a Cursor object using the cursor() method of the Connection object.
3. Third, execute the  DELETE statement using the execute() method of the Cursor object. In case you want to pass the arguments to the statement, you use a question mark ( ?) for each argument.

The following  create_connection() function establishes a database connection to an SQLite database specified by a database file name:

def create_connection(db_file):
    """ create a database connection to the SQLite database
        specified by the db_file
    :param db_file: database file
    :return: Connection object or None
    """
    conn = None
    try:
        conn = sqlite3.connect(db_file)
    except Error as e:
        print(e)

    return conn
Code language: Python (python)

The following delete_task() function deletes a task in the tasks table by id.

def delete_task(conn, id):
    """
    Delete a task by task id
    :param conn:  Connection to the SQLite database
    :param id: id of the task
    :return:
    """
    sql = 'DELETE FROM tasks WHERE id=?'
    cur = conn.cursor()
    cur.execute(sql, (id,))
    conn.commit()
Code language: Python (python)

The following delete_all_tasks() function deletes all rows in the tasks table.

def delete_all_tasks(conn):
    """
    Delete all rows in the tasks table
    :param conn: Connection to the SQLite database
    :return:
    """
    sql = 'DELETE FROM tasks'
    cur = conn.cursor()
    cur.execute(sql)
    conn.commit()
Code language: Python (python)

This main() function calls the create_connection() function and the delete_task() function to delete the task with id 2 from the tasks table:

def main():
    database = r"C:\sqlite\db\pythonsqlite.db"

    # create a database connection
    conn = create_connection(database)
    with conn:
        delete_task(conn, 2);
        # delete_all_tasks(conn);


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()
Code language: Python (python)

Here is the full program:

import sqlite3
from sqlite3 import Error


def create_connection(db_file):
    """ create a database connection to the SQLite database
        specified by the db_file
    :param db_file: database file
    :return: Connection object or None
    """
    conn = None
    try:
        conn = sqlite3.connect(db_file)
    except Error as e:
        print(e)

    return conn


def delete_task(conn, id):
    """
    Delete a task by task id
    :param conn:  Connection to the SQLite database
    :param id: id of the task
    :return:
    """
    sql = 'DELETE FROM tasks WHERE id=?'
    cur = conn.cursor()
    cur.execute(sql, (id,))
    conn.commit()


def delete_all_tasks(conn):
    """
    Delete all rows in the tasks table
    :param conn: Connection to the SQLite database
    :return:
    """
    sql = 'DELETE FROM tasks'
    cur = conn.cursor()
    cur.execute(sql)
    conn.commit()


def main():
    database = r"C:\sqlite\db\pythonsqlite.db"

    # create a database connection
    conn = create_connection(database)
    with conn:
        delete_task(conn, 2);
        # delete_all_tasks(conn);


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()
Code language: Python (python)

Note that you can comment/ un-comment the function call in the main() function to test each delete function individually.

In this tutorial, you have learned how to delete data in the SQLite database from a Python program using the sqlite3 module.