--- layout: default title: Delete by query parent: Document APIs nav_order: 40 --- # Delete by query Introduced 1.0 {: .label .label-purple} You can include a query as part of your delete request so OpenSearch deletes all documents that match that query. ## Example ```json POST sample-index1/_delete_by_query { "query": { "match": { "movie-length": "124" } } } ``` ## Path and HTTP methods ``` POST /_delete_by_query ``` ## URL parameters All URL parameters are optional. Parameter | Type | Description :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- <index> | String | Name or list of the data streams, indices, or aliases to delete from. Supports wildcards. If left blank, OpenSearch searches all indices. allow_no_indices | Boolean | Whether to ignore wildcards that don’t match any indices. Default is `true`. analyzer | String | The analyzer to use in the query string. analyze_wildcard | Boolean | Specifies whether to analyze wildcard and prefix queries. Default is false. conflicts | String | Indicates to OpenSearch what should happen if the delete by query operation runs into a version conflict. Valid options are `abort` and `proceed`. Default is `abort`. default_operator | String | Indicates whether the default operator for a string query should be AND or OR. Default is OR. df | String | The default field in case a field prefix is not provided in the query string. expand_wildcards | String | Specifies the type of index that wildcard expressions can match. Supports comma-separated values. Valid values are `all` (match any index), `open` (match open, non-hidden indices), `closed` (match closed, non-hidden indices), `hidden` (match hidden indices), and `none` (deny wildcard expressions). Default is `open`. from | Integer | The starting index to search from. Default is 0. ignore_unavailable | Boolean | Specifies whether to include missing or closed indices in the response. Default is false. lenient | Boolean | Specifies whether OpenSearch should accept requests if queries have format errors (for example, querying a text field for an integer). Default is false. max_docs | Integer | How many documents the delete by query operation should process at most. Default is all documents. preference | String | Specifies which shard or node OpenSearch should perform the delete by query operation on. q | String | Lucene query string's query. request_cache | Boolean | Specifies whether OpenSearch should use the request cache. Default is whether it’s enabled in the index’s settings. refresh | Boolean | If true, OpenSearch refreshes shards to make the delete by query operation available to search results. Valid options are `true`, `false`, and `wait_for`, which tells OpenSearch to wait for a refresh before executing the operation. Default is `false`. requests_per_second | Integer | Specifies the request's throttling in sub-requests per second. Default is -1, which means no throttling. routing | String | Value used to route the operation to a specific shard. scroll | Time | Amount of time the search context should be open. scroll_size | Integer | Size of the operation's scroll requests. Default is 1000. search_type | String | Whether OpenSearch should use global term and document frequencies calculating revelance scores. Valid choices are `query_then_fetch` and `dfs_query_then_fetch`. `query_then_fetch` scores documents using local term and document frequencies for the shard. It’s usually faster but less accurate. `dfs_query_then_fetch` scores documents using global term and document frequencies across all shards. It’s usually slower but more accurate. Default is `query_then_fetch`. search_timeout | Time | How long to wait until OpenSearch deems the request timed out. Default is no timeout. slices | String or Integer | How many slices to cut the operation into for faster processing. Specify an integer to set how many slices to divide the operation into, or use `auto`, which tells OpenSearch it should decide how many slices to divide into. If you have a lot of shards in your index, set a lower number for better efficiency. Default is 1, which means the task should not be divided. sort | String | A comma-separated list of <field> : <direction> pairs to sort by. _source | String | Specifies whether to include the `_source` field in the response. _source_excludes | String | A comma-separated list of source fields to exclude from the response. _source_includes | String | A comma-separated list of source fields to include in the response. stats | String | Value to associate with the request for additional logging. terminate_after | Integer | The maximum number of documents OpenSearch should process before terminating the request. timeout | Time | How long the operation should wait from a response from active shards. Default is `1m`. version | Boolean | Whether to include the document version as a match. wait_for_active_shards | String | The number of shards that must be active before OpenSearch executes the operation. Valid values are `all` or any integer up to the total number of shards in the index. Default is 1, which is the primary shard. wait_for_completion | Boolean | Setting this parameter to false indicates to OpenSearch it should not wait for completion and perform this request asynchronously. Asynchronous requests run in the background, and you can use the [Tasks]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/api-reference/tasks) API to monitor progress. ## Request body To search your index for specific documents, you must include a [query]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/opensearch/query-dsl/index) in the request body that OpenSearch uses to match documents. If you don't use a query, OpenSearch treats your delete request as a simple [delete document operation]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/api-reference/document-apis/delete-document). ```json { "query": { "match": { "movie-length": "124" } } } ``` ## Response ```json { "took": 143, "timed_out": false, "total": 1, "deleted": 1, "batches": 1, "version_conflicts": 0, "noops": 0, "retries": { "bulk": 0, "search": 0 }, "throttled_millis": 0, "requests_per_second": -1.0, "throttled_until_millis": 0, "failures": [] } ``` ## Response body fields Field | Description :--- | :--- took | The amount of time in milliseconds OpenSearch needed to complete the operation. timed_out | Whether any delete requests during the operation timed out. total | Total number of documents processed. deleted | Total number of documents deleted. batches | Number of scroll responses the request processed. version_conflicts | Number of conflicts the request ran into. noops | How many delete requests OpenSearch ignored during the operation. This field always returns 0. retries | The number of bulk and search retry requests. throttled_millis | Number of throttled milliseconds during the request. requests_per_second | Number of requests executed per second during the operation. throttled_until_millis | The amount of time until OpenSearch executes the next throttled request. Always equal to 0 in a delete by query request. failures | Any failures that occur during the request.