DROP TABLE IF EXISTS t1,t2; CREATE TABLE t1 (a , b ) ENGINE= ; INSERT INTO t1 (a,b) VALUES (10000,'foobar'),(1,'a'),(2,'b'),(3,'c'),(4,'d'),(5,'e'); INSERT INTO t1 (a,b) SELECT a, b FROM t1; CREATE TABLE t2 (c , d ) ENGINE= ; INSERT INTO t2 (c,d) SELECT b, a FROM t1; SELECT a,b FROM t1; a b 1 a 1 a 10000 foobar 10000 foobar 2 b 2 b 3 c 3 c 4 d 4 d 5 e 5 e SELECT c,d FROM t2; c d a 1 a 1 b 2 b 2 c 3 c 3 d 4 d 4 e 5 e 5 foobar 10000 foobar 10000 DELETE IGNORE FROM t1 WHERE b IS NOT NULL ORDER BY a LIMIT 1; SELECT a,b FROM t1; a b 1 a 10000 foobar 10000 foobar 2 b 2 b 3 c 3 c 4 d 4 d 5 e 5 e DELETE IGNORE t1.*, t2.* FROM t1, t2 WHERE c < b OR a != ( SELECT 1 UNION SELECT 2 ); Warnings: Warning 1242 Subquery returns more than 1 row SELECT a,b FROM t1; a b 1 a SELECT c,d FROM t2; c d foobar 10000 foobar 10000 DROP TABLE t1, t2;