SQL Academy · Lesson

DELETE with USING and Safe Patterns

Delete rows joined to other tables with DELETE ... USING, and use transactions + SELECT first to verify before destructive operations.

Basic DELETE

Remove matching rows:

DELETE FROM users WHERE id = 1;

Before any DELETE, run the same WHERE with SELECT to confirm the row count:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM orders
WHERE status = 'cancelled' AND created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL '1 year';