Example: Deleting Rows from an ANSI System-Time Table - Advanced SQL Engine - Teradata Database

The following example assumes the DELETE operation is applied to the following system-versioned system-time table named employee_systime:

 eid ename  deptno                        sys_start                          sys_end
---- ------ ------ -------------------------------- --------------------------------
1002 Ash       333 2003-07-01 12:11:00.000000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1005 Alice     222 2004-12-01 00:12:23.120000-08:00 2005-05-01 12:00:00.450000-08:00
1004 Fred      222 2002-07-01 12:00:00.350000-08:00 2005-05-01 12:00:00.350000-08:00
1001 Sania     111 2002-01-01 00:00:00.000000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1003 SRK       111 2004-02-10 00:00:00.000000-08:00 2006-03-01 00:00:00.000000-08:00
1004 Fred      555 2005-05-01 12:00:00.350000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1005 Alice     555 2005-05-01 12:00:00.450000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00

The closed rows have already been deleted from the table, so are not subject to further deletion. Only the open rows in a system-time table can be deleted. The open rows are returned by a SELECT statement that is not temporally qualified:

SELECT * FROM employee_systime;

 eid ename  deptno                        sys_start                          sys_end
---- ------ ------ -------------------------------- --------------------------------
1002 Ash       333 2003-07-01 12:11:00.000000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1005 Alice     555 2005-05-01 12:00:00.450000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1004 Fred      555 2005-05-01 12:00:00.350000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1001 Sania     111 2002-01-01 00:00:00.000000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00

DELETE FROM employee_systime WHERE ename=’Sania’;

A simple SELECT shows that the row has been deleted from the table.

SELECT * FROM employee_systime;

 eid ename  deptno                        sys_start                          sys_end
---- ------ ------ -------------------------------- --------------------------------
1002 Ash       333 2003-07-01 12:11:00.000000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1005 Alice     555 2005-05-01 12:00:00.450000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1004 Fred      555 2005-05-01 12:00:00.350000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00

A temporal query that shows all open and closed rows in the table reveals that the Sania row has only been logically deleted, but remains inactive in the table as a closed row.

SELECT * 
FROM employee_systime 
FOR SYSTEM_TIME FROM TIMESTAMP'1900-01-01 00:00:00.000001-08:00' TO 
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;

 eid ename  deptno                        sys_start                          sys_end
---- ------ ------ -------------------------------- --------------------------------
1002 Ash       333 2003-07-01 12:11:00.000000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1005 Alice     222 2004-12-01 00:12:23.120000-08:00 2005-05-01 12:00:00.450000-08:00
1004 Fred      222 2002-07-01 12:00:00.350000-08:00 2005-05-01 12:00:00.350000-08:00
1001 Sania     111 2002-01-01 00:00:00.000000-08:00 2014-02-22 22:32:01.540000-08:00
1003 SRK       111 2004-02-10 00:00:00.000000-08:00 2006-03-01 00:00:00.000000-08:00
1004 Fred      555 2005-05-01 12:00:00.350000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00
1005 Alice     555 2005-05-01 12:00:00.450000-08:00 9999-12-31 23:59:59.999999+00:00

In this way, a system-time table maintains a complete history of row deletions in the table.