You can use the ALTER TABLE...TRUNCATE PARTITION command to remove all data from a specified partition, leaving the partition structure intact.

Overview

Syntax:
ALTER TABLE table_name TRUNCATE PARTITION partition_name
  [{DROP|REUSE} STORAGE]

Description

You can use the ALTER TABLE...TRUNCATE PARTITION command to remove all data from a specified partition, leaving the partition structure intact. When you truncate a partition, all subpartitions of the partition are also truncated.

The ALTER TABLE...TRUNCATE PARTITION command will not fire any ON DELETE triggers that may exist for the table. However, the command will fire ON TRUNCATE triggers. If an ON TRUNCATE trigger is defined for the partition, all BEFORE TRUNCATE triggers are fired before any truncation occurs, and all AFTER TRUNCATE triggers are fired after the last truncation is performed.

You must have the TRUNCATE permission on a table to invoke ALTER TABLE...TRUNCATE PARTITION.

Parameters

Parameter Description
table_name The name (optionally schema-qualified) of the partitioned table.
partition_name The name of the partition to be removed.
Note DROP STORAGE and REUSE STORAGE are only included for compatibility. These clauses are parsed and ignored.

Example - empty a partition

The following example removes the data from a partition of the sales table. Run the following command to create the sales table:
CREATE TABLE sales
(
  dept_no     number,   
  part_no     varchar2,
  country     varchar2(20),
  date        date,
  amount      number
)
PARTITION BY LIST(country)
(
  PARTITION europe VALUES('FRANCE', 'ITALY'),
  PARTITION asia VALUES('INDIA', 'PAKISTAN'),
  PARTITION americas VALUES('US', 'CANADA')
);
Run the following command to add values to the sales table:
INSERT INTO sales VALUES
(10, '4519b', 'FRANCE', '17-Jan-2012', '45000'),
(20, '3788a', 'INDIA', '01-Mar-2012', '75000'),
(40, '9519b', 'US', '12-Apr-2012', '145000'),
(20, '3788a', 'PAKISTAN', '04-Jun-2012', '37500'),
(40, '4577b', 'US', '11-Nov-2012', '25000'),
(30, '7588b', 'CANADA', '14-Dec-2012', '50000'),
(30, '9519b', 'CANADA', '01-Feb-2012', '75000'),
(30, '4519b', 'CANADA', '08-Apr-2012', '120000'),
(40, '3788a', 'US', '12-May-2012', '4950'),
(10, '9519b', 'ITALY', '07-Jul-2012', '15000'),
(10, '9519a', 'FRANCE', '18-Aug-2012', '650000'),
(10, '9519b', 'FRANCE', '18-Aug-2012', '650000'),
(20, '3788b', 'INDIA', '21-Sept-2012', '5090'),
(40, '4788a', 'US', '23-Sept-2012', '4950'),
(40, '4788b', 'US', '09-Oct-2012', '15000'),
(20, '4519a', 'INDIA', '18-Oct-2012', '650000'),
(20, '4519b', 'INDIA', '2-Dec-2012', '5090');
Querying the sales table shows that the partitions are populated with data:
acctg=# SELECT tableoid::regclass, * FROM sales;
    tableoid    | dept_no | part_no | country  |        date        | amount 
----------------+---------+---------+----------+--------------------+--------
 sales_europe   |      10 | 4519b   | FRANCE   | 17-JAN-12 00:00:00 |  45000
 sales_europe   |      10 | 9519b   | ITALY    | 07-JUL-12 00:00:00 |  15000
 sales_europe   |      10 | 9519a   | FRANCE   | 18-AUG-12 00:00:00 | 650000
 sales_europe   |      10 | 9519b   | FRANCE   | 18-AUG-12 00:00:00 | 650000
 sales_asia     |      20 | 3788a   | INDIA    | 01-MAR-12 00:00:00 |  75000
 sales_asia     |      20 | 3788a   | PAKISTAN | 04-JUN-12 00:00:00 |  37500
 sales_asia     |      20 | 3788b   | INDIA    | 21-SEP-12 00:00:00 |   5090
 sales_asia     |      20 | 4519a   | INDIA    | 18-OCT-12 00:00:00 | 650000
 sales_asia     |      20 | 4519b   | INDIA    | 02-DEC-12 00:00:00 |   5090
 sales_americas |      40 | 9519b   | US       | 12-APR-12 00:00:00 | 145000
 sales_americas |      40 | 4577b   | US       | 11-NOV-12 00:00:00 |  25000
 sales_americas |      30 | 7588b   | CANADA   | 14-DEC-12 00:00:00 |  50000
 sales_americas |      30 | 9519b   | CANADA   | 01-FEB-12 00:00:00 |  75000
 sales_americas |      30 | 4519b   | CANADA   | 08-APR-12 00:00:00 | 120000
 sales_americas |      40 | 3788a   | US       | 12-MAY-12 00:00:00 |   4950
 sales_americas |      40 | 4788a   | US       | 23-SEP-12 00:00:00 |   4950
 sales_americas |      40 | 4788b   | US       | 09-OCT-12 00:00:00 |  15000
(17 rows)
To delete the content of the americas partition, run the following command:
ALTER TABLE sales TRUNCATE PARTITION americas;
Querying the sales table will show that the content of the americas partition is removed:
acctg=# SELECT tableoid::regclass, * FROM sales;
   tableoid   | dept_no | part_no | country  |        date        | amount 
--------------+---------+---------+----------+--------------------+--------
 sales_europe |      10 | 4519b   | FRANCE   | 17-JAN-12 00:00:00 |  45000
 sales_europe |      10 | 9519b   | ITALY    | 07-JUL-12 00:00:00 |  15000
 sales_europe |      10 | 9519a   | FRANCE   | 18-AUG-12 00:00:00 | 650000
 sales_europe |      10 | 9519b   | FRANCE   | 18-AUG-12 00:00:00 | 650000
 sales_asia   |      20 | 3788a   | INDIA    | 01-MAR-12 00:00:00 |  75000
 sales_asia   |      20 | 3788a   | PAKISTAN | 04-JUN-12 00:00:00 |  37500
 sales_asia   |      20 | 3788b   | INDIA    | 21-SEP-12 00:00:00 |   5090
 sales_asia   |      20 | 4519a   | INDIA    | 18-OCT-12 00:00:00 | 650000
 sales_asia   |      20 | 4519b   | INDIA    | 02-DEC-12 00:00:00 |   5090
(9 rows)
Although the rows have been removed, the structure of the americas partition is still intact:
acctg=# SELECT partition_name, high_value FROM ALL_TAB_PARTITIONS;
 partition_name |     high_value      
----------------+---------------------
 europe         | 'FRANCE', 'ITALY'   
 asia           | 'INDIA', 'PAKISTAN' 
 americas       | 'US', 'CANADA'      
(3 rows)