How to Delete Data in SQLite Database in Android?

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

In the previous articles, we have seen three operations of CRUD operations such as create, read and update operations in our Android app. In this article, we will take a look at adding delete operation for deleting our items stored in the SQLite database. 

What we are going to build in this article?  

We will be building a simple application in which we will be deleting the course from our SQLite database in our Android app. A sample video is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article. 

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Updating our DBHandler class

As we have to delete data from our SQLite database. For that, we have to create a method to delete our data from the SQLite database. Navigate to the app > java > your app's package name > DBHandler and add the below code to it.

Java
// below is the method for deleting our course.
public void deleteCourse(String courseName) {
  
        // on below line we are creating
        // a variable to write our database.
        SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();

        // on below line we are calling a method to delete our
        // course and we are comparing it with our course name.
        db.delete(TABLE_NAME, "name=?", new String[]{courseName});
        db.close();
}

Below is the updated code for the DBHandler.java file after adding the above code snippet.

Java
import android.content.ContentValues;
import android.content.Context;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class DBHandler extends SQLiteOpenHelper {

    // creating a constant variables for our database.
    // below variable is for our database name.
    private static final String DB_NAME = "coursedb";

    // below int is our database version
    private static final int DB_VERSION = 1;

    // below variable is for our table name.
    private static final String TABLE_NAME = "mycourses";

    // below variable is for our id column.
    private static final String ID_COL = "id";

    // below variable is for our course name column
    private static final String NAME_COL = "name";

    // below variable id for our course duration column.
    private static final String DURATION_COL = "duration";

    // below variable for our course description column.
    private static final String DESCRIPTION_COL = "description";

    // below variable is for our course tracks column.
    private static final String TRACKS_COL = "tracks";

    // creating a constructor for our database handler.
    public DBHandler(Context context) {
        super(context, DB_NAME, null, DB_VERSION);
    }

    // below method is for creating a database by running a sqlite query
    @Override
    public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db) {
        // on below line we are creating
        // an sqlite query and we are
        // setting our column names
        // along with their data types.
        String query = "CREATE TABLE " + TABLE_NAME + " ("
                + ID_COL + " INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, "
                + NAME_COL + " TEXT,"
                + DURATION_COL + " TEXT,"
                + DESCRIPTION_COL + " TEXT,"
                + TRACKS_COL + " TEXT)";

        // at last we are calling a exec sql
        // method to execute above sql query
        db.execSQL(query);
    }

    // this method is use to add new course to our sqlite database.
    public void addNewCourse(String courseName, String courseDuration, String courseDescription, String courseTracks) {

        // on below line we are creating a variable for
        // our sqlite database and calling writable method
        // as we are writing data in our database.
        SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();

        // on below line we are creating a
        // variable for content values.
        ContentValues values = new ContentValues();

        // on below line we are passing all values
        // along with its key and value pair.
        values.put(NAME_COL, courseName);
        values.put(DURATION_COL, courseDuration);
        values.put(DESCRIPTION_COL, courseDescription);
        values.put(TRACKS_COL, courseTracks);

        // after adding all values we are passing
        // content values to our table.
        db.insert(TABLE_NAME, null, values);

        // at last we are closing our
        // database after adding database.
        db.close();
    }

    // we have created a new method for reading all the courses.
    public ArrayList<CourseModal> readCourses() {
        // on below line we are creating a
        // database for reading our database.
        SQLiteDatabase db = this.getReadableDatabase();

        // on below line we are creating a cursor with query to read data from database.
        Cursor cursorCourses = db.rawQuery("SELECT * FROM " + TABLE_NAME, null);

        // on below line we are creating a new array list.
        ArrayList<CourseModal> courseModalArrayList = new ArrayList<>();

        // moving our cursor to first position.
        if (cursorCourses.moveToFirst()) {
            do {
                // on below line we are adding the data from cursor to our array list.
                courseModalArrayList.add(new CourseModal(cursorCourses.getString(1),
                        cursorCourses.getString(4),
                        cursorCourses.getString(2),
                        cursorCourses.getString(3)));
            } while (cursorCourses.moveToNext());
            // moving our cursor to next.
        }
        // at last closing our cursor
        // and returning our array list.
        cursorCourses.close();
        return courseModalArrayList;
    }

    // below is the method for updating our courses
    public void updateCourse(String originalCourseName, String courseName, String courseDescription,
                             String courseTracks, String courseDuration) {

        // calling a method to get writable database.
        SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();
        ContentValues values = new ContentValues();

        // on below line we are passing all values
        // along with its key and value pair.
        values.put(NAME_COL, courseName);
        values.put(DURATION_COL, courseDuration);
        values.put(DESCRIPTION_COL, courseDescription);
        values.put(TRACKS_COL, courseTracks);

        // on below line we are calling a update method to update our database and passing our values.
        // and we are comparing it with name of our course which is stored in original name variable.
        db.update(TABLE_NAME, values, "name=?", new String[]{originalCourseName});
        db.close();
    }

    // below is the method for deleting our course.
    public void deleteCourse(String courseName) {
        
        // on below line we are creating
        // a variable to write our database.
        SQLiteDatabase db = this.getWritableDatabase();

        // on below line we are calling a method to delete our
        // course and we are comparing it with our course name.
        db.delete(TABLE_NAME, "name=?", new String[]{courseName});
        db.close();
    }

    @Override
    public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int oldVersion, int newVersion) {
        // this method is called to check if the table exists already.
        db.execSQL("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS " + TABLE_NAME);
        onCreate(db);
    }
}

Step 2: Adding a button to delete our course

Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_update_course.xml file and add a Button inside this layout for deleting a course. Below is the code for that file. 

XML
<!--button for deleting our course-->
<Button
  android:id="@+id/idBtnDelete"
  android:layout_width="match_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:layout_margin="10dp"
  android:text="Delete Course"
  android:textAllCaps="false" />

Below is the updated code for the activity_update_course.xml file after adding the above code snippet.

XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context=".UpdateCourseActivity">

    <!--Edit text to enter course name-->
    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/idEdtCourseName"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:hint="Enter course Name" />

    <!--edit text to enter course duration-->
    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/idEdtCourseDuration"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:hint="Enter Course Duration" />

    <!--edit text to display course tracks-->
    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/idEdtCourseTracks"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:hint="Enter Course Tracks" />

    <!--edit text for course description-->
    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/idEdtCourseDescription"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:hint="Enter Course Description" />

    <!--button for updating our course-->
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/idBtnUpdateCourse"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:text="Update Course"
        android:textAllCaps="false" />

    <!--button for deleting our course-->
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/idBtnDelete"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:text="Delete Course"
        android:textAllCaps="false" />

</LinearLayout>

Step 3: Initializing our button to delete our course

Navigate to the app > java > your app's package name > UpdateCourseActivity.java file and add the below code to it. 

Java
// adding on click listener for delete button to delete our course.
deleteCourseBtn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                // calling a method to delete our course.
                dbHandler.deleteCourse(courseName);
                Toast.makeText(UpdateCourseActivity.this, "Deleted the course", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                Intent i = new Intent(UpdateCourseActivity.this, MainActivity.class);
                startActivity(i);
       }
});

Below is the updated code for the UpdateCourseActivity.java file after adding the above code snippet.

Java
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.Toast;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

public class UpdateCourseActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    // variables for our edit text, button, strings and dbhandler class.
    private EditText courseNameEdt, courseTracksEdt, courseDurationEdt, courseDescriptionEdt;
    private Button updateCourseBtn, deleteCourseBtn;
    private DBHandler dbHandler;
    String courseName, courseDesc, courseDuration, courseTracks;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_update_course);

        // initializing all our variables.
        courseNameEdt = findViewById(R.id.idEdtCourseName);
        courseTracksEdt = findViewById(R.id.idEdtCourseTracks);
        courseDurationEdt = findViewById(R.id.idEdtCourseDuration);
        courseDescriptionEdt = findViewById(R.id.idEdtCourseDescription);
        updateCourseBtn = findViewById(R.id.idBtnUpdateCourse);
        deleteCourseBtn = findViewById(R.id.idBtnDelete);

        // on below line we are initializing our dbhandler class.
        dbHandler = new DBHandler(UpdateCourseActivity.this);

        // on below lines we are getting data which
        // we passed in our adapter class.
        courseName = getIntent().getStringExtra("name");
        courseDesc = getIntent().getStringExtra("description");
        courseDuration = getIntent().getStringExtra("duration");
        courseTracks = getIntent().getStringExtra("tracks");

        // setting data to edit text
        // of our update activity.
        courseNameEdt.setText(courseName);
        courseDescriptionEdt.setText(courseDesc);
        courseTracksEdt.setText(courseTracks);
        courseDurationEdt.setText(courseDuration);

        // adding on click listener to our update course button.
        updateCourseBtn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {

                // inside this method we are calling an update course
                // method and passing all our edit text values.
                dbHandler.updateCourse(courseName, courseNameEdt.getText().toString(), courseDescriptionEdt.getText().toString(), courseTracksEdt.getText().toString(), courseDurationEdt.getText().toString());

                // displaying a toast message that our course has been updated.
                Toast.makeText(UpdateCourseActivity.this, "Course Updated..", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

                // launching our main activity.
                Intent i = new Intent(UpdateCourseActivity.this, MainActivity.class);
                startActivity(i);
            }
        });

        // adding on click listener for delete button to delete our course.
        deleteCourseBtn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                // calling a method to delete our course.
                dbHandler.deleteCourse(courseName);
                Toast.makeText(UpdateCourseActivity.this, "Deleted the course", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                Intent i = new Intent(UpdateCourseActivity.this, MainActivity.class);
                startActivity(i);
            }
        });
    }
}

Now run your app and see the output of the app. Make sure to add data to our database before deleting it. 

Output:

Below is the complete project file structure after performing the delete operation:

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