---
name: "dblink_build_sql_delete"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "postgresql"
version: "18.6-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dblink_build_sql_delete"
---

# dblink\_build\_sql\_delete(3)

builds a DELETE statement using supplied values for primary key field values

## NAME

dblink\_build\_sql\_delete - builds a DELETE statement using supplied values for primary key field values

## SYNOPSIS

```
dblink_build_sql_delete(text relname,
                        int2vector primary_key_attnums,
                        integer num_primary_key_atts,
                        text[] tgt_pk_att_vals_array) returns text
```

## DESCRIPTION

**dblink\_build\_sql\_delete** can be useful in doing selective replication of a local table to a remote database. It builds an SQL **DELETE** command that will delete the row with the given primary key values.

## ARGUMENTS

*relname*

Name of a local relation, for example foo or myschema.mytab. Include double quotes if the name is mixed-case or contains special characters, for example "FooBar"; without quotes, the string will be folded to lower case.

*primary\_key\_attnums*

Attribute numbers (1-based) of the primary key fields, for example 1 2.

*num\_primary\_key\_atts*

The number of primary key fields.

*tgt\_pk\_att\_vals\_array*

Values of the primary key fields to be used in the resulting **DELETE** command. Each field is represented in text form.

## RETURN VALUE

Returns the requested SQL statement as text.

## NOTES

As of PostgreSQL 9.0, the attribute numbers in *primary\_key\_attnums* are interpreted as logical column numbers, corresponding to the column's position in SELECT \* FROM relname. Previous versions interpreted the numbers as physical column positions. There is a difference if any column(s) to the left of the indicated column have been dropped during the lifetime of the table.

## EXAMPLES

```
SELECT dblink_build_sql_delete('"MyFoo"', '1 2', 2, '{"1", "b"}');
           dblink_build_sql_delete
---------------------------------------------
 DELETE FROM "MyFoo" WHERE f1='1' AND f2='b'
(1 row)
```