What is the difference between TRUNCATE and DELETE?

TRUNCATE and DELETE are both used to remove rows from a table, but they differ in several key ways. TRUNCATE is a DDL (Data Definition Language) operation that removes all rows in a table by deallocating the data pages. It is typically faster because it does not log individual row deletions, does not fire DELETE triggers, and often resets identity columns. However, it cannot be used with a WHERE clause and is usually not fully recoverable in a transaction log. DELETE is a DML (Data Manipulation Language) operation that deletes rows one by one, can include a WHERE clause to target specific rows, fires DELETE triggers, and logs each row deletion, making it fully recoverable in a transaction. In practice, use TRUNCATE when you need to quickly clear a table and do not need row-level logging or triggers; use DELETE when you need to delete specific rows or maintain transactional integrity.