all wrong: Inkscape leaves any clipping and masking defs behind when deleting masked or clipped objects.
attached file has for 4 variations of clip and mask:
text (as path) masks rectangle
rectangle masks text
text (as path) clips rect
rect clips text
remove the visible text objects with 'delete', check the <defs> section: all clip and mask definitions are still present.
(with Inkscape 0.46+devel r22401, OS X)
all wrong: Inkscape leaves any clipping and masking defs behind when deleting masked or clipped objects.
attached file has for 4 variations of clip and mask:
text (as path) masks rectangle
rectangle masks text
text (as path) clips rect
rect clips text
remove the visible text objects with 'delete', check the <defs> section: all clip and mask definitions are still present.
(with Inkscape 0.46+devel r22401, OS X)