Without Confirmation

SpamSieve users can delete rules and words from table views by pressing Delete. I’d like to add an option to delete without confirmation by holding down a modifier key. Which should it be?

In many applications, such as the Finder and BBEdit, holding down Option removes the ellipsis from a menu command, so that you can use the command without confirming it or specifying any additional options. This is definitely the right behavior for menu commands, however even though SpamSieve aliases the Clear command in the Edit menu to the Delete key, I doubt most users think of pressing Delete as a menu command.

Internet Explorer’s Favorites window is more similar to the situation in SpamSieve. It’s a list/table that uses Delete to delete with confirmation and Command-Delete to delete without confirmation. However, I can’t think of any other programs that work this way.