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Mastering Paginated Deletions in MSSQL Tables

Remove records from large tables using the paginated deletion technique to avoid common pitfalls like bloated transaction logs and performance bottlenecks

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Piotr Bach picture
Piotr Bach
Wojciech Tengler picture
Wojciech Tengler
MS SQL

Why Use Paginated Deletions?

Deleting large amounts of records from a table at once may:

  • Balloon the SQL Transaction Log file.

  • Cause disk space issues.

  • Strain system performance.

Paginated deletions divide the workload into manageable chunks, reducing resource consumption and ensuring stable performance.

Step 1: Creating a Sample Table#

CREATE TABLE [Logs] (
    [LogId] INTEGER NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1), 
    [Text] VARCHAR(MAX) NULL,
    [Severity] VARCHAR(7) NULL,
    [Created] DATETIME,
    PRIMARY KEY ([LogId])
);
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 1','Error',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 2','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 3','Info',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 4','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 5','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 6','Error',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 7','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 8','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 9','Info',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 10','Info',GETDATE())

Step 2: Preparing for Deletion

Set up the necessary variables and temporary table:

DECLARE @pageSize INTEGER = 2; -- Records per batch
DECLARE @tempLogIdWithPageIndexTable TABLE (
    LogId INT,
    PageIndex INT
);

Assign page indices to the records based on the batch size:

INSERT INTO @tempLogIdWithPageIndexTable (LogId, PageIndex)
SELECT LogId, 
       CEILING(CAST(ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY LogId) AS DECIMAL) / CAST(@pageSize AS DECIMAL)) AS PageIndex
FROM [Logs];

Calculate total pages:

DECLARE @totalCount INTEGER;
DECLARE @pageCount INTEGER;

SELECT @totalCount = COUNT(1) FROM @tempLogIdWithPageIndexTable;
SET @pageCount = CEILING(CAST(@totalCount AS DECIMAL) / CAST(@pageSize AS DECIMAL));

Step 3: Paginated Deletion Logic

Perform the deletion page by page:

DECLARE @pageIndex INTEGER = 1;

WHILE (@pageIndex <= @pageCount)
BEGIN
    DELETE FROM [Logs]
    WHERE LogId IN (
        SELECT LogId FROM @tempLogIdWithPageIndexTable WHERE PageIndex = @pageIndex
    );

    PRINT 'Processed page ' + CAST(@pageIndex AS VARCHAR(MAX)) + '/' + CAST(@pageCount AS VARCHAR(MAX));
    SET @pageIndex = @pageIndex + 1;
END

Step 4: Post-Deletion Analysis

Verify the deletion results:

PRINT 'Script finished at : ' + CONVERT(varchar(25), getdate(), 120) 

SET @totalCount = (SELECT count(1) FROM dbo.Logs)

-- print the report when the job is done
PRINT 'Number of records after deletion : ' + CAST(@totalCount as VARCHAR(MAX))

Example output:

Total number of records to remove: 10
Page size: 2
Total pages: 5
Script started at : 2020-09-05 15:36:21

(2 rows affected)
Processed page 1/5

(2 rows affected)
Processed page 2/5

(2 rows affected)
Processed page 3/5

(2 rows affected)
Processed page 4/5

(2 rows affected)
Processed page 5/5
Script finished at : 2020-09-05 15:36:21
Number of records after deletion : 0

Complete Script for Paginated Deletions

use [dbName]

/* Removing data from large table in MSSQL using batch */

CREATE TABLE [Logs] (
    [LogId] INTEGER NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1), 
    [Text] VARCHAR(MAX) NULL,
    [Severity] VARCHAR(7) NULL,
    [Created] DATETIME,
    PRIMARY KEY ([LogId])
);
GO

INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 1','Error',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 2','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 3','Info',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 4','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 5','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 6','Error',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 7','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 8','Warning',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 9','Info',GETDATE())
INSERT INTO [Logs]([Text],[Severity],[Created]) VALUES('Lorem ipsum 10','Info',GETDATE())

SELECT count(1) FROM dbo.Logs;

DECLARE @tempLogIdWithPageIndexTable TABLE
(
	LogId INT,
	PageIndex INT
)

DECLARE @pageSize INTEGER = 2;
DECLARE @totalCount INTEGER
​
INSERT INTO @tempLogIdWithPageIndexTable (LogId, PageIndex) (
	SELECT  LogId, 
	CEILING(CAST(ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY LogId) AS DECIMAL)/CAST(@pageSize AS DECIMAL)) AS PageIndex
	FROM [Logs] -- You can add WHERE conditions here
)

-- Get total counts of records to remove

SELECT @totalCount = count(1) FROM @tempLogIdWithPageIndexTable
​
DECLARE @pageCount INTEGER
SET @pageCount = CEILING(CAST(@totalCount as DECIMAL) / CAST(@pageSize as DECIMAL))
​
DECLARE @pageIndex INTEGER = 1
​
-- print the report with metrics before start

PRINT 'Total number of records to remove : ' + CAST(@totalCount as VARCHAR(MAX))
PRINT 'Page size : ' + CAST(@pageSize as VARCHAR(MAX))
PRINT 'Total pages : ' + CAST(@pageCount as VARCHAR(MAX))
PRINT 'Script started at : ' + CONVERT(varchar(25), getdate(), 120) 

-- delete records in a loop by paging

WHILE(@pageIndex <= @pageCount)
BEGIN	
	-- you can delete related entries first using JOIN here
	DELETE [dbo].Logs where LogId in 
	(SELECT LogId FROM @tempLogIdWithPageIndexTable WHERE PageIndex = @pageIndex)
​
	PRINT 'Processed page ' + CAST(@pageIndex as VARCHAR(MAX)) + '/' + CAST(@pageCount as VARCHAR(MAX))
	SET @pageIndex = @pageIndex + 1
END

PRINT 'Script finished at : ' + CONVERT(varchar(25), getdate(), 120) 

SET @totalCount = (SELECT count(1) FROM dbo.Logs)

-- print the report when the job is done
PRINT 'Number of records after deletion : ' + CAST(@totalCount as VARCHAR(MAX))

SELECT count(1) FROM dbo.Logs;

Remember When Deleting All Records from Table

The fastest way to clear an entire table is to use the TRUNCATE command:

TRUNCATE TABLE [Logs];

Handle Foreign Key Constraints

If TRUNCATE isn’t possible due to foreign key constraints:

  1. Drop foreign key constraints.

  2. Use TRUNCATE.

  3. Recreate foreign key constraints.

Key Takeaways

  • Paginated deletions help manage large datasets efficiently without overwhelming system resources.

  • This method avoids common pitfalls like bloated transaction logs and performance bottlenecks.

  • Use TRUNCATE for faster cleanup when applicable, but handle constraints carefully.

For complete source code, check out the GitHub repository

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