How to Delete Rows in PostgreSQL

Last updated July 24, 2026 · By the SaturnSQL team

Use DELETE FROM ... WHERE, with USING to join another table. RETURNING lists the deleted rows. Wrap risky deletes in a transaction so you can ROLLBACK after inspecting the result.

BEGIN;
DELETE FROM orders WHERE status = 'cancelled' RETURNING id;
-- looks right?
COMMIT; -- or ROLLBACK;

DELETE FROM orders o
USING customers c
WHERE c.id = o.customer_id
  AND c.is_test_account;