Truncate is a verb that means to cut or shorten something. It can be used to describe the act of shortening something by removing part of it, or the state of being shortened. In SQL, the TRUNCATE TABLE statement is a data definition language operation that marks the extent of a table for deallocation. In mathematics, truncating is shortening a number by removing some of the digits after the decimal.
In statistics, truncation results in values that are bounded above or below, which results in a truncated sample. Truncating can be done with an electric saw, a chainsaw, or even a karate kick. It can also be done by cutting down a tree trunk to the stump. When information is sent or saved, the program may truncate the data to the first 255 characters and no additional characters are taken into account.
The earliest use of truncating is as an adjective that describes something (such as a leaf or a feather) with the square end as if it had been cut off. The reproduced parts assume their previous relationships and make a return to equilibrium damaged by their truncation. Although this brings to mind a more horrifying picture (truncating a limb in an accident), things that are not related to anatomy can actually be truncated. Two notable exceptions to this rule are the implementations found in PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server, which allow TRUNCATE TABLE statements to be transactionally committed or undone.
You cannot truncate a table to which FK constraints have been applied (TRUNCATE is not the same as DELETE). The only thing you can't truncate, join or overlap is the Phase 3 test, the test is in the pudding. In conclusion, truncate means to cut or shorten something. It can also mean shortening a decimal number by removing the final (or starting) digits; cut. In SQL, it marks the extent of a table for deallocation and in mathematics it is shortening a number by removing some of the digits after the decimal.
