Delete Columns

Drop the columns you do not need. The columns that stay keep their order.

What it does

Delete Columns takes columns out of the table. The columns that remain stay in their current order. Delete Columns is the mirror image of Select Columns.

Remove one or more columns

  1. Open the Pipeline panel.
  2. Click the + button next to the search box. Its tooltip reads Browse all transforms.
  3. Click Columns in the category list on the left.
  4. Click Delete Columns. The panel opens below the grid.
  5. Click the box under Select columns.
  6. Click each column that you want to remove.
  7. Click Apply.

You can skip the picker. Type delete in the Search transforms box instead. The same operation appears in the results.

A worked example

An employees export holds 14 columns. Three of them are internal: _row_hash, import_batch and legacy_id. Select those three columns. Click Apply. The grid drops to 11 columns, in the same order as before.

Delete or Select?

  • Use Delete Columns when you can name the few columns to remove.
  • Use Select Columns when you can name the few columns to keep.
  • Only Select Columns can change the column order.

Limits

  • You cannot delete every column. The panel shows an error and the step does not run.
  • You must select at least one column. An empty selection also shows an error.

Nothing is lost for good. Delete the step in the Pipeline and the columns come back.

The SQL behind it

The step lists the survivors. It does not name the columns you dropped:

SELECT "employee_id", "full_name", "department", "start_date" FROM "employees"
Try Delete Columns with sample data →

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