Run the rm command to delete objects, parts, or buckets - Object Storage Service

This topic describes how to run the rm command to delete objects, parts, or buckets that you no longer need to avoid unnecessary charges.

Usage notes

To delete a single object, you must have the oss:DeleteObject permission. To delete all objects in a directory, you must have the oss:DeleteObject and oss:ListObjects permissions. To delete a specific object version, you must have the oss:DeleteObjectVersion permission. To delete all object versions in a bucket, you must have the oss:ListObjectVersions and oss:DeleteObjectVersion permissions. To delete all object versions in a directory, you must have the oss:DeleteObjectVersion and oss:ListObjects permissions. To delete parts of an object, you must have the oss:ListMultipartUploads and oss:AbortMultipartUpload permissions. To delete all objects and parts in a bucket, you must have the oss:ListMultipartUploads, oss:AbortMultipartUpload, oss:ListObjects, and oss:DeleteObject permissions. To delete a bucket, you must have the oss:DeleteBucket permission.
For ossutil 1.6.16 and later, you can directly use ossutil as the binary name in the command line. You do not need to update the binary name based on the operating system. For ossutil earlier than 1.6.16, you need to update the binary name based on the operating system. For more information, see ossutil command reference.

Command syntax

ossutil rm oss://bucketname[/prefix]
[-r, --recursive]
[-b, --bucket]
[-m, --multipart]
[-a, --all-type]
[-f, --force]
[--include <value>]
[--exclude <value>]
[--version-id <value>] 
[--all-versions]
[--payer <value>]
[--encoding-type <value>]

The following table describes the parameters and options in the syntax.

Parameter/Option	Description
bucketname	The name of the bucket.
prefix	The prefix in the names of resources, such as directories and objects.
-r, --recursive	If you specify this option, ossutil deletes all objects whose names contain the specified prefix from the bucket. If you do not specify this option, ossutil deletes only the specified objects.
-b, --bucket	Specifies that the command deletes the bucket. This option is required only when you delete a bucket.
-m, --multipart	Specifies that the operation is performed on the incomplete multipart upload tasks in the bucket.
-a, --all-type	Specifies that the operation is performed on the objects whose names contain the specified prefix and data created by incomplete multipart upload tasks in the bucket.
-f, --force	Forces the operation without requiring confirmation.
--include	Includes all objects that meet the specified conditions. For more information, see Options --include and --exclude.
--exclude	Excludes all objects that meet the specified conditions. For more information, see Options --include and --exclude.
--version-id	The version ID of the object. This parameter applies only to a versioning-enabled or versioning-suspended bucket.
--all-versions	Specifies all versions of objects. This option applies only to objects in buckets for which versioning is enabled or suspended. You can specify only one of the --version-id and --all-versions options in a single rm command.
--payer	The payer of the fees that are generated by the operation. If you want the requester who accesses the resources in the specified path to pay the fees that are generated by the operation, such as traffic and request fees, set this parameter to requester.
--encoding-type	The encoding of the prefix that follows `oss://bucket_name`. Valid value: url. If you do not specify this option, the prefix is not encoded.

Delete objects

Warning

Objects cannot be recovered after they are deleted. Exercise caution when you perform this operation.

If you use the rm command with or without the -r option to delete one or more objects, the ListObjects (GetBucket) and DeleteObject operations are called. In this case, you are charged for sending PUT requests. For more information, see API operation calling fees.

Warning

If you include the --include and --exclude options in a rm command to delete objects, accidental deletions may occur due to improper condition configurations. We recommend that you exercise caution when you include both the options in a rm command.
You can specify more than one condition in the --include option and the --exclude option. All conditions are applied from left to right to match objects. If you specify more than one condition, we recommend that you specify the --include option before the --exclude option.

Examples
- Delete a single object
  Delete an object named exampleobject.txt from a bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm oss://examplebucket/exampleobject.txt
```
- Delete all objects whose names contain the "test" prefix from a bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm oss://examplebucket/test -r
```
- Delete all objects whose names contain the ".png" suffix from a bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm oss://examplebucket  --include "*.png" -r
```
- Delete objects whose names contain the string "abc" and do not contain the ".jpg" or ".txt" suffix from a bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm oss://examplebucket  --include "*abc*" --exclude "*.jpg" --exclude "*.txt" -r
```
- Delete a specific version of an object named exampleobject.txt from a versioning-enabled bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm oss://examplebucket/exampleobject.txt --version-id  CAEQARiBgID8rumR2hYiIGUyOTAyZGY2MzU5MjQ5ZjlhYzQzZjNlYTAyZDE3****
```
  For more information about how to obtain all versions of an object, see ls.
- Delete all versions of an object named exampleobject.txt from a versioning-enabled bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm oss://examplebucket/exampleobject.txt --all-versions
```
- Delete all versions of all objects from a versioning-enabled bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm oss://examplebucket --all-versions -r
```
Sample output
A success response includes the number of deleted objects and the time used to complete the deletion operation:
```
Succeed: Total 8 objects. Removed 8 objects.
0.106852(s) elapsed
```

Delete parts

If you use the rm command with multiple options to delete parts, the ListMultipartUploads, ListParts, and AbortMultipartUpload operations are called. In this case, you are charged for sending GET requests when the ListMultipartUploads and ListParts operations are called and for sending PUT requests when the AbortMultipartUpload operation is called. For more information, see API operation calling fees.

Examples
- Specify the -m option in the command to delete parts that are generated by incomplete multipart upload tasks of an object named exampleobject.txt from a bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm -m oss://examplebucket/exampleobject.txt
```
- Specify the -m and -r options in the command to recursively delete parts that are generated by the incomplete multipart upload tasks of objects whose names contain the "test" prefix from a bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm -m oss://examplebucket/test -r 
Do you really mean to remove recursively multipart uploadIds of oss://examplebucket/test(y or N)? y 
```
- Specify the -a and -r options in the command to recursively delete objects whose names contain the "src" prefix and parts that are generated by the incomplete multipart upload tasks of these objects from a bucket named examplebucket.
```
ossutil rm  oss://examplebucket/src -a -r
Do you really mean to remove recursively objects and multipart uploadIds of oss://examplebucket/src(y or N)? y
```
Sample response
A success response includes the number of deleted objects, the number of multipart upload tasks by which the deleted parts are generated, and the time used to complete the deletion operation:
```
Succeed: Total 1 objects, 3 uploadIds. Removed 1 objects, 3 uploadIds.
1.922915(s) elapsed
```

Delete buckets

Delete the examplebucket bucket that contains no objects or parts.
```
ossutil rm oss://examplebucket -b
Do you really mean to remove the Bucket: examplebucket(y or N)? y
```
A success response includes the name of the bucket deleted and the time used to delete the bucket:
```
Removed Bucket: examplebucket
2.230745(s) elapsed
```
Delete a bucket named examplebucket and all objects and parts in the bucket.
Warning
If you run the following command, all data in the bucket is deleted and deleted data cannot be recovered. Exercise caution when you perform this operation.
```
ossutil rm  oss://examplebucket -b -a -r
Do you really mean to remove recursively objects and multipart uploadIds of oss://examplebucket(y or N)? y
Do you really mean to remove the Bucket: examplebucket(y or N)? y
```
A success response includes the number of deleted objects, the number of multipart upload tasks by which the deleted parts are generated, the name of the deleted bucket, and the time used to complete the deletion operation:
```
Succeed: Total 189 objects, 37 uploadIds. Removed 189 objects, 37 uploadIds.
Removed Bucket: examplebucket
9.184193(s) elapsed
```

Common options

If you use ossutil to switch to a bucket that is located in another region, add the -e option to the command to specify the endpoint of the region in which the specified bucket is located. If you use ossutil to switch to a bucket that belongs to another Alibaba Cloud account, add the -i option to the command to specify the AccessKey ID of the specified account, and add the -k option to the command to specify the AccessKey secret of the specified account.

For example, you can run the following command to delete an object named exampletest.png from a bucket named testbucket, which is located in the China (Shanghai) region and belongs to another Alibaba Cloud account:

ossutil rm oss://testbucket/exampletest.png -e oss-cn-shanghai.aliyuncs.com -i LTAI4Fw2NbDUCV8zYUzA****  -k 67DLVBkH7EamOjy2W5RVAHUY9H****

For more information about common options, see Common options.