 <p>Do it the same way like you did with your update, use SQL parameters for the where clause. So this code should work:</p> <pre><code>protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { string sel = DropDownList1.SelectedValue; // if your selection is empty, abort early if( sel == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(sel.Text)) return; // use a SQL parameter like you did with update string query = "DELETE FROM MovieList WHERE Movie=@MovieValue"; System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand ocmd = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand(query, new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(CSTR)); // here the selected text for the movie is set to the movie parameter ocmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MovieValue", sel.Text); ocmd.Connection.Open(); ocmd.ExecuteNonQuery(); ocmd.Connection.Close(); populateDropDowns(); } </code></pre>