Delete indices Generally available

DELETE /{index}
Api key auth Basic auth Bearer auth

Deleting an index deletes its documents, shards, and metadata. It does not delete related Kibana components, such as data views, visualizations, or dashboards.

You cannot delete the current write index of a data stream. To delete the index, you must roll over the data stream so a new write index is created. You can then use the delete index API to delete the previous write index.

Required authorization

  • Index privileges: delete_index

Path parameters

  • index string | array[string] Required

    Comma-separated list of indices to delete. You cannot specify index aliases. By default, this parameter does not support wildcards (*) or _all. To use wildcards or _all, set the action.destructive_requires_name cluster setting to false.

Query parameters

  • allow_no_indices boolean

    If false, the request returns an error if any wildcard expression, index alias, or _all value targets only missing or closed indices. This behavior applies even if the request targets other open indices.

  • expand_wildcards string | array[string]

    Type of index that wildcard patterns can match. If the request can target data streams, this argument determines whether wildcard expressions match hidden data streams. Supports comma-separated values, such as open,hidden. Valid values are: all, open, closed, hidden, none.

    Values are all, open, closed, hidden, or none.

  • ignore_unavailable boolean

    If false, the request returns an error if it targets a missing or closed index.

  • master_timeout string

    Period to wait for a connection to the master node. If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error.

    Values are -1 or 0.

  • timeout string

    Period to wait for a response. If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error.

    Values are -1 or 0.

Responses

  • 200 application/json
    Hide response attributes Show response attributes object
    • acknowledged boolean Required

      For a successful response, this value is always true. On failure, an exception is returned instead.

    • _shards object
      Hide _shards attributes Show _shards attributes object
      • failed number Required
      • successful number Required
      • total number Required
      • failures array[object]
        Hide failures attributes Show failures attributes object
        • index string
        • node string
        • reason object Required

          Cause and details about a request failure. This class defines the properties common to all error types. Additional details are also provided, that depend on the error type.

          Hide reason attributes Show reason attributes object
          • type string Required

            The type of error

          • reason
          • stack_trace string

            The server stack trace. Present only if the error_trace=true parameter was sent with the request.

          • caused_by object

            Cause and details about a request failure. This class defines the properties common to all error types. Additional details are also provided, that depend on the error type.

          • root_cause array[object]
          • suppressed array[object]
        • shard number Required
        • status string
      • skipped number
DELETE /{index} 
DELETE /books

resp = client.indices.delete(
    index="books",
)
const response = await client.indices.delete({
  index: "books",
});
response = client.indices.delete(
  index: "books"
)
$resp = $client->indices()->delete([
    "index" => "books",
]);
curl -X DELETE -H "Authorization: ApiKey $ELASTIC_API_KEY" "$ELASTICSEARCH_URL/books"