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

Materialized View

A database object that stores the precomputed result of a query, offering faster reads at the cost of periodic refresh.

CTE (Common Table Expression)

A temporary named result set defined within a SQL statement using the WITH clause, improving query readability and enabling recursion.

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

A distributed search and analytics engine built on Apache Lucene, optimized for full-text search and log analysis.

A database that uses graph structures with nodes, edges, and properties to store and query highly connected data.

A column or set of columns that uniquely identifies each row in a database table.

View All Databases Terms →