Problem

You need to delete a specific set of rows based on a list or staging table, but want to verify exactly what will be removed before running the delete.

Solution

Preview the affected rows using a SELECT, then run the DELETE using the same JOIN.

-- Preview first
SELECT t.*
FROM target_table t
JOIN #rows_to_delete d ON d.id = t.id;

-- Apply delete
BEGIN TRAN;

DELETE t
FROM target_table t
JOIN #rows_to_delete d ON d.id = t.id;

SELECT @@ROWCOUNT AS rows_deleted;

-- COMMIT;
-- ROLLBACK;

Notes

• Always run the SELECT preview first.
• Wrapping in a transaction allows quick rollback if the row count is unexpected.
• Useful for removing duplicate or incorrectly imported data.
• Consider backing up affected rows first:

SELECT *
INTO backup_table_20260216
FROM target_table t
JOIN #rows_to_delete d ON d.id = t.id;