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

POST sample-index1/_delete_by_query
{
  "query": {
    "match": {
      "movie-length": "124"
    }
  }
}

{% include copy-curl.html %}

Path and HTTP methods

POST <index>/_delete_by_query

URL parameters

All URL parameters are optional.

Parameter	Type	Description
<index>	String	Name or list of the data streams, indexes, or aliases to delete from. Supports wildcards. If left blank, OpenSearch searches all indexes.
allow_no_indices	Boolean	Whether to ignore wildcards that don’t match any indexes. 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 indexes), `closed` (match closed, non-hidden indexes), `hidden` (match hidden indexes), 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 indexes 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 API to monitor progress.

Request body

To search your index for specific documents, you must include a query 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.

{
  "query": {
    "match": {
      "movie-length": "124"
    }
  }
}

Response

{
  "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.

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