From BlenderWiki
Deleting Elements
Mode: Edit mode
Hotkey: X or Del
Menu: Mesh » Delete...
Whatever select mode you are using, you have always the same delete options, shown in the Erase pop-up menu:
the Erase menu.
- Vertices
- Deletes all vertices selected, either explicitly or implicitly. As side effects, it will also delete edges and faces using one or more of the deleted vertices!
- Edges
- Deletes all edges selected, either explicitly or implicitly. As side effects, it will also delete faces using one or more of the deleted edges – however, vertices defining the deleted edges are not deleted, unless they remain unlinked (i.e. no more edge use them).
- Faces
- Deletes all faces selected, either explicitly or implicitly. Vertices and edges defining the deleted faces are not deleted, unless they remain unlinked (i.e. no more face use them).
- All
- Deletes the whole mesh (all vertices, and hence all edges and faces). Radical! Note it has its own shortcut, CtrlX.
- Edges & Faces
- Deletes all edges and faces selected, either explicitly or implicitly. Vertices defining the deleted edges and faces are not deleted, unless they remain unlinked (i.e. no more edge or face use them).
- Only Faces
- Deletes only the faces selected, which means that all concerned edges won’t be deleted, even if they do not belong to any more faces).
- Edge Loop
- Deletes an edge loop, see edge tools for details.
