{"id":"compact-purges-tombstones","text":"Tombstones (`b\"\"`) are permanently removed during compaction and never written to the output SSTable; deleted keys disappear entirely after merge","truth_value":"IN","source":"entries/2026/05/28/log-structured-merge-tree-lsm-compact.md","source_url":"","source_hash":"","justifications":[],"dependents":["lsm-compaction-output-is-correct"],"metadata":{},"created_at":"","updated_at":"","reviewed_at":"","verified_at":"","retracted_at":"","explanation":{"steps":[{"node":"compact-purges-tombstones","truth_value":"IN","reason":"premise"}]}}