Databases Intermediate

What is Soft Delete?

A pattern where records are marked as deleted with a flag or timestamp rather than being physically removed from the database.

Soft delete adds a deleted_at timestamp or is_deleted boolean to tables. Queries filter out deleted records: WHERE deleted_at IS NULL. This preserves data for auditing, undo functionality, and referential integrity.

Trade-offs include increased storage, more complex queries (must always filter), unique constraint challenges, and GDPR compliance concerns (soft-deleted data still exists). Alternatives include audit tables (copy before delete) and event sourcing.

Learn More About This Topic

SQL for Absolute Beginners

Related reading

Redis Fundamentals

Related reading

MongoDB Fundamentals: Building Scalable NoSQL Applications with Document Databases

Related reading

Related Terms

Connection Pool

A cache of database connections that can be reused, avoiding the overhead of creating new connections for each request.

Write-Ahead Log (WAL)

A technique where changes are first written to a log before being applied to the database, ensuring crash recovery and data integrity.

Database Index Types

Different index structures (B-tree, Hash, GIN, GiST, BRIN) optimized for various query patterns and data types.

A category of databases that store data in non-tabular formats, optimized for specific data models and access patterns.

A sequence of database operations that are treated as a single unit — either all succeed or all are rolled back.

A PostgreSQL maintenance operation that reclaims storage from dead tuples and updates statistics for the query planner.

View All Databases Terms →