---
type: api
title: Delete indices
description: Deleting an index deletes its documents, shards, and metadata.
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4371/api/doc/elasticsearch-serverless/operation/operation-indices-delete
resource: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4371/api/doc/elasticsearch-serverless/operation/operation-indices-delete
products:
  - Elasticsearch Serverless
---

# Delete indices

Availability:

## Paths

- `DELETE` `/{index}`

- [Api key auth](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/4371/api/doc/elasticsearch-serverless/authentication#apikeyauth)

#### Path Parameters

- `index` (union IndexName | [] IndexName)
  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`.

## Description

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`

## Query String Parameters

- `allow_no_indices` (boolean · default: true)
  A setting that does two separate checks on the index expression.
If `false`, the request returns an error (1) if any wildcard expression
(including `_all` and `*`) resolves to zero matching indices or (2) if the
complete set of resolved indices, aliases or data streams is empty after all
expressions are evaluated. If `true`, index expressions that resolve to no
indices are allowed and the request returns an empty result.
- `expand_wildcards` (string ExpandWildcards · default: open,closed)
  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`.

Supported values include:
  - `all`: Match any data stream or index, including hidden ones.
  - `open`: Match open, non-hidden indices. Also matches any non-hidden data stream.
  - `closed`: Match closed, non-hidden indices. Also matches any non-hidden data stream. Data streams cannot be closed.
  - `hidden`: Match hidden data streams and hidden indices. Must be combined with `open`, `closed`, or `both`.
  - `none`: Wildcard expressions are not accepted.
  Values: `all`, `open`, `closed`, `hidden`, `none`
- `ignore_unavailable` (boolean · default: false)
  If `false`, the request returns an error if it targets a concrete (non-wildcarded)
index, alias, or data stream that is missing, closed, or otherwise unavailable.
If `true`, unavailable concrete targets are silently ignored.
- `master_timeout` (string Duration · default: 30s)
  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.
- `timeout` (string Duration · default: 30s)
  Period to wait for a response.
If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error.

## Response

`application/json`

- `acknowledged` (boolean)
  For a successful response, this value is always true. On failure, an exception is returned instead.
- `_shards` ({} ShardStatistics)
  - `failed` (number uint)
    The number of shards the operation or search attempted to run on but failed.
  - `successful` (number uint)
    The number of shards the operation or search succeeded on.
  - `total` (number uint)
    The number of shards the operation or search will run on overall.
  - `failures` ([] ShardFailure)
    - `index` (string IndexName)
    - `node` (string)
    - `reason` ({} ErrorCause)
      - `type` (string)
        The type of error
      - `reason` (union string) — nullable
        A human-readable explanation of the error, in English.
        One of: `string`
      - `stack_trace` (string)
        The server stack trace. Present only if the `error_trace=true` parameter was sent with the request.
      - `caused_by` ({} ErrorCause) — recursive
        Same fields as `reason` in `failures`
      - `root_cause` ([] ErrorCause) — recursive
        Same fields as `reason` in `failures`
      - `suppressed` ([] ErrorCause) — recursive
        Same fields as `reason` in `failures`
    - `shard` (number)
    - `status` (string)
    - `primary` (boolean)
  - `skipped` (number uint)
## Code Examples

#### Console

```console
DELETE /books
```

#### JavaScript

```javascript
const response = await client.indices.delete({
  index: "books",
});
```

#### Python

```python
resp = client.indices.delete(
    index="books",
)
```

#### curl

```curl
curl -X DELETE "$ELASTICSEARCH_URL/books" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey $ELASTIC_API_KEY"
```

#### Java

```java
client.indices().delete(d -> d
    .index("books")
);
```

#### C#

```c#
var response = await client.Indices.DeleteAsync(indices: new[] { "books" });
```

#### PHP

```php
$resp = $client->indices()->delete([
    "index" => "books",
]);
```

#### Ruby

```ruby
response = client.indices.delete(
  index: "books"
)
```