Received: from malur.postgresql.org ([217.196.149.56]) by arkaria.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.94.2) (envelope-from ) id 1ubwiR-007BRu-Ln for pgadmin-support@arkaria.postgresql.org; Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:38:12 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=malur.postgresql.org) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.94.2) (envelope-from ) id 1ubwiO-008SYy-Vt for pgadmin-support@arkaria.postgresql.org; Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:38:09 +0000 Received: from magus.postgresql.org ([2a02:c0:301:0:ffff::29]) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.94.2) (envelope-from <01020198122b4fa8-37d1f889-e6c1-4bb9-87a4-1b3ca0ffc8c3-000000@mail.rodonnell.ie>) id 1ubwiO-008SYq-Jp for pgadmin-support@lists.postgresql.org; Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:38:09 +0000 Received: from a7-34.smtp-out.eu-west-1.amazonses.com ([54.240.7.34]) by magus.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from <01020198122b4fa8-37d1f889-e6c1-4bb9-87a4-1b3ca0ffc8c3-000000@mail.rodonnell.ie>) id 1ubwiM-0081Gr-17 for pgadmin-support@postgresql.org; Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:38:08 +0000 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/simple; s=dv7fx26oobputowqxkzhnujragfvk7eg; d=rodonnell.ie; t=1752651485; h=From:To:Date:Message-ID:In-Reply-To:References:Subject:MIME-Version:Content-Type; bh=a2qNpd+OkrdyJISIDbnmCuUWKFB/+luokOD2FeOoLMc=; b=GluxuEaBm9WVPnmWFLIdwvIHYKHOa+3qx/Z3m/jaTefZxxcaUW4Qbm2IVTw5r9tq ele86MKI2KxSNRsgO/Z9/K0SuKkjwKpkWRyJtOwrMKrB66fIZnumy3f3aauPm/F8cfc xEZ7Sl283h666hqQ6MAGFsWw26fvMfzMSKHDZfp73Mh2UywgXj0xhNFWGBV3oIKfhxp NQODP8N5kvIfp5cbz/pLuwL+QP4NpX9Kv9oHOxrzs6NrPk9OTerm9nQTaWertU6uMno AG8Qk6i+uEYEdlEGVZbtQKbwaBeD0KxnCEJMmHREu4tpW0LCFcl8PEZ5I+9acKP/tBX CQHyfMiteQ== DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/simple; s=ihchhvubuqgjsxyuhssfvqohv7z3u4hn; d=amazonses.com; t=1752651485; h=From:To:Date:Message-ID:In-Reply-To:References:Subject:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Feedback-ID; bh=a2qNpd+OkrdyJISIDbnmCuUWKFB/+luokOD2FeOoLMc=; b=gaqx/pz28cFkBU6RoKwfwHeLx308PL0HKcyxK33YgaaxV8j/ySyf+ILNGLFu4oTp HaqAJ/TnFKmiLfH1HMEU7ik9nrtZ7Zs4rb75d9gx9jMSmqYRGaMnnDirgRDP5saOCkR e8ZMdrSS+4MK8+95hcIqZQ59W/TGFYDru0GuMwb0= From: Ray O'Donnell To: Darren Duncan , pgAdmin Support Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:38:05 +0000 Message-ID: <01020198122b4fa8-37d1f889-e6c1-4bb9-87a4-1b3ca0ffc8c3-000000@eu-west-1.amazonses.com> In-Reply-To: <0f00ec11-f8e7-4688-9580-9206fd9aebdc@darrenduncan.net> References: <0f00ec11-f8e7-4688-9580-9206fd9aebdc@darrenduncan.net> User-Agent: AquaMail/1.55.2 (build: 105502562) Subject: Re: Naming Object commands "Delete" is a source of user errors MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="198122b543e58332834ef81c12" Feedback-ID: ::1.eu-west-1.Bw1eu/7Uepg3xcsiFBL71JJRCh2A2yTFrgBhhiulXmU=:AmazonSES X-SES-Outgoing: 2025.07.16-54.240.7.34 List-Id: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Post: List-Owner: List-Archive: Archived-At: Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --198122b543e58332834ef81c12 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit On 16 July 2025 08:19:09 Darren Duncan wrote: > I am finding that it is a recurring and damaging source of user error that > Object/Explorer commands named "Delete" actually correspond to SQL DROP rather > than SQL DELETE or TRUNCATE. Multiple times I have accidentally dropped tables > when I meant to just truncate them. In fairness, you don't (SQL) DELTE tables - you delete their rows, hence the command is DELETE FROM. And it is intuitive that when you right-click on an object and click "Delete", it is the object itself which gets zapped. Also, TRUNCATE is there in the menu too. Having said that, I recall that the menu used to say "Drop" rather than "Delete", which IMHO is clearer to SQL-savvy people.... it got changed at some point. Ray. > > I created a GitHub issue requesting to rename the "Delete" commands to > "Drop" to > help avoid this regular source of cognitive dissonance that leads to errors. > > https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/issues/8958 > > I'm also mentioning the issue in this support list to help draw attention > to it. > > Thank you. > > Darren Duncan --198122b543e58332834ef81c12 Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable


On 16 July 2025 08:19:09 Darren Duncan <darren@darrend= uncan.net> wrote:

I am finding that it is a recurring and damaging source o= f user error that 
Object/Explorer commands named "Delete" actually correspo= nd to SQL DROP rather 
than SQL DELETE or TRUNCATE. Multiple times I have accide= ntally dropped tables 
when I meant to just truncate them.

In fairness, you don't (SQL) DELTE tables - you delete their = rows, hence the command is DELETE FROM. And it is intuitive that when you r= ight-click on an object and click "Delete", it is the object itself which g= ets zapped. Also, TRUNCATE is there in the menu too.

Having said that, I recall that the menu used = to say "Drop" rather than "Delete", which IMHO is clearer to SQL-savvy peop= le.... it got changed at some point.

Ray.




I created a GitHub issue requesting to rename the "Delete= " commands to "Drop" to 
help avoid this regular source of cognitive dissonance th= at leads to errors.

https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/issues/8958

I'm also mentioning the issue in this support list to hel= p draw attention to it.

Thank you.

Darren Duncan

3D"" --198122b543e58332834ef81c12--