Emptying mysql tables

There are actually two ways to wipe a mysql table either using delete or using truncate – which is better and why? So far my most commonly used form to wipe a table has simple been by using:

DELETE FROM tablename;

which works fine for most cases, but mysql also offers a different method:

TRUNCATE tablename;

Besides the fact that it seems to be faster (even on small tables with few rows) – which in itself is a reason to favour this method - it also has another nice feature, which may be desirable. It resets the AUTO_INCREMENT field if it exists, and let the counter start over from 1.

Deleting rows in the table with the first statement will let the AUTO_INCREMENT counter continiue from where it was before the rows were deleted.

Delete speed (Mysql 5)
Truncate syntax (Mysql 5)
Delete syntax (Mysql 5)