Deleting a single object

You can use the Amazon S3 console or the DELETE API to delete a single existing object from an S3 bucket.

Because all objects in your S3 bucket incur storage costs, you should delete objects that you no longer need. For example, if you are collecting log files, it's a good idea to delete them when they're no longer needed. You can set up a lifecycle rule to automatically delete objects such as log files. For more information, see Setting lifecycle configuration on a bucket.

For information about Amazon S3 features and pricing, see Amazon S3 pricing.

Using the S3 console

Follow these steps to use the Amazon S3 console to delete a single object from a bucket.

To delete an object

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon S3 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/s3/.

2. In the Bucket name list, choose the name of the bucket that you want to delete an object from.

3. Choose the name of the object that you want to delete.

4. To delete the current version of the object, choose Latest version, and choose the trash can icon.

5. To delete a previous version of the object, choose Latest version, and choose the trash can icon beside the version that you want to delete.

Using the AWS SDKs

The following examples show how you can use the AWS SDKs to delete an object from a bucket. For more information, see DELETE Object in the Amazon Simple Storage Service API Reference

If you have S3 Versioning enabled on the bucket, you have the following options:

• Delete a specific object version by specifying a version ID.

• Delete an object without specifying a version ID, in which case Amazon S3 adds a delete marker to the object.

For more information about S3 Versioning, see Using versioning in S3 buckets.

Java

Example 1: Deleting an object (non-versioned bucket)

The following example assumes that the bucket is not versioning-enabled and the object doesn't have any version IDs. In the delete request, you specify only the object key and not a version ID.

For instructions on creating and testing a working sample, see Testing the Amazon S3 Java Code Examples.

import com.amazonaws.AmazonServiceException;
import com.amazonaws.SdkClientException;
import com.amazonaws.regions.Regions;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3ClientBuilder;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.DeleteObjectsRequest;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.DeleteObjectsRequest.KeyVersion;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.DeleteObjectsResult;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class DeleteMultipleObjectsNonVersionedBucket {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        Regions clientRegion = Regions.DEFAULT_REGION;
        String bucketName = "*** Bucket name ***";

        try {
            AmazonS3 s3Client = AmazonS3ClientBuilder.standard()
                    .withRegion(clientRegion)
                    .build();

            // Upload three sample objects.
            ArrayList<KeyVersion> keys = new ArrayList<KeyVersion>();
            for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
                String keyName = "delete object example " + i;
                s3Client.putObject(bucketName, keyName, "Object number " + i + " to be deleted.");
                keys.add(new KeyVersion(keyName));
            }
            System.out.println(keys.size() + " objects successfully created.");

            // Delete the sample objects.
            DeleteObjectsRequest multiObjectDeleteRequest = new DeleteObjectsRequest(bucketName)
                    .withKeys(keys)
                    .withQuiet(false);

            // Verify that the objects were deleted successfully.
            DeleteObjectsResult delObjRes = s3Client.deleteObjects(multiObjectDeleteRequest);
            int successfulDeletes = delObjRes.getDeletedObjects().size();
            System.out.println(successfulDeletes + " objects successfully deleted.");
        } catch (AmazonServiceException e) {
            // The call was transmitted successfully, but Amazon S3 couldn't process 
            // it, so it returned an error response.
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (SdkClientException e) {
            // Amazon S3 couldn't be contacted for a response, or the client
            // couldn't parse the response from Amazon S3.
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Example 2: Deleting an object (versioned bucket)

The following example deletes an object from a versioned bucket. The example deletes a specific object version by specifying the object key name and version ID.

The example does the following:

1. Adds a sample object to the bucket. Amazon S3 returns the version ID of the newly added object. The example uses this version ID in the delete request.

2. Deletes the object version by specifying both the object key name and a version ID. If there are no other versions of that object, Amazon S3 deletes the object entirely. Otherwise, Amazon S3 only deletes the specified version.

   Note

   You can get the version IDs of an object by sending a ListVersions request.

import com.amazonaws.AmazonServiceException;
import com.amazonaws.SdkClientException;
import com.amazonaws.auth.profile.ProfileCredentialsProvider;
import com.amazonaws.regions.Regions;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3ClientBuilder;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.BucketVersioningConfiguration;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.DeleteVersionRequest;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.PutObjectResult;

import java.io.IOException;

public class DeleteObjectVersionEnabledBucket {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        Regions clientRegion = Regions.DEFAULT_REGION;
        String bucketName = "*** Bucket name ***";
        String keyName = "*** Key name ****";

        try {
            AmazonS3 s3Client = AmazonS3ClientBuilder.standard()
                    .withCredentials(new ProfileCredentialsProvider())
                    .withRegion(clientRegion)
                    .build();

            // Check to ensure that the bucket is versioning-enabled.
            String bucketVersionStatus = s3Client.getBucketVersioningConfiguration(bucketName).getStatus();
            if (!bucketVersionStatus.equals(BucketVersioningConfiguration.ENABLED)) {
                System.out.printf("Bucket %s is not versioning-enabled.", bucketName);
            } else {
                // Add an object.
                PutObjectResult putResult = s3Client.putObject(bucketName, keyName, "Sample content for deletion example.");
                System.out.printf("Object %s added to bucket %s\n", keyName, bucketName);

                // Delete the version of the object that we just created.
                System.out.println("Deleting versioned object " + keyName);
                s3Client.deleteVersion(new DeleteVersionRequest(bucketName, keyName, putResult.getVersionId()));
                System.out.printf("Object %s, version %s deleted\n", keyName, putResult.getVersionId());
            }
        } catch (AmazonServiceException e) {
            // The call was transmitted successfully, but Amazon S3 couldn't process 
            // it, so it returned an error response.
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (SdkClientException e) {
            // Amazon S3 couldn't be contacted for a response, or the client
            // couldn't parse the response from Amazon S3.
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

.NET

The following examples show how to delete an object from both versioned and non-versioned buckets. For more information about S3 Versioning, see Using versioning in S3 buckets.

Example Deleting an object from a non-versioned bucket

The following C# example deletes an object from a non-versioned bucket. The example assumes that the objects don't have version IDs, so you don't specify version IDs. You specify only the object key.

For information about how to create and test a working sample, see Running the Amazon S3 .NET Code Examples.

using Amazon;
using Amazon.S3;
using Amazon.S3.Model;
using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Amazon.DocSamples.S3
{
    class DeleteObjectNonVersionedBucketTest
    {
        private const string bucketName = "*** bucket name ***"; 
        private const string keyName = "*** object key ***";
        // Specify your bucket region (an example region is shown).
        private static readonly RegionEndpoint bucketRegion = RegionEndpoint.USWest2;
        private static IAmazonS3 client;

        public static void Main()
        {
            client = new AmazonS3Client(bucketRegion);
            DeleteObjectNonVersionedBucketAsync().Wait();
        }
        private static async Task DeleteObjectNonVersionedBucketAsync()
        {
            try
            {
                var deleteObjectRequest = new DeleteObjectRequest
                {
                    BucketName = bucketName,
                    Key = keyName
                };

                Console.WriteLine("Deleting an object");
                await client.DeleteObjectAsync(deleteObjectRequest);
            }
            catch (AmazonS3Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error encountered on server. Message:'{0}' when deleting an object", e.Message);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Unknown encountered on server. Message:'{0}' when deleting an object", e.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}

Example Deleting an object from a versioned bucket

The following C# example deletes an object from a versioned bucket. It deletes a specific version of the object by specifying the object key name and version ID.

The code performs the following tasks:

1. Enables S3 Versioning on a bucket that you specify (if S3 Versioning is already enabled, this has no effect).

2. Adds a sample object to the bucket. In response, Amazon S3 returns the version ID of the newly added object. The example uses this version ID in the delete request.

3. Deletes the sample object by specifying both the object key name and a version ID.

   Note

   You can also get the version ID of an object by sending a ListVersions request.

   var listResponse = client.ListVersions(new ListVersionsRequest { BucketName = bucketName, Prefix = keyName }); 

For information about how to create and test a working sample, see Running the Amazon S3 .NET Code Examples.

using Amazon;
using Amazon.S3;
using Amazon.S3.Model;
using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Amazon.DocSamples.S3
{
    class DeleteObjectVersion
    {
        private const string bucketName = "*** versioning-enabled bucket name ***";
        private const string keyName = "*** Object Key Name ***";
        // Specify your bucket region (an example region is shown).
        private static readonly RegionEndpoint bucketRegion = RegionEndpoint.USWest2;
        private static IAmazonS3 client;

        public static void Main()
        {
            client = new AmazonS3Client(bucketRegion);
            CreateAndDeleteObjectVersionAsync().Wait();
        }

        private static async Task CreateAndDeleteObjectVersionAsync()
        {
            try
            {
                // Add a sample object. 
                string versionID = await PutAnObject(keyName);

                // Delete the object by specifying an object key and a version ID.
                DeleteObjectRequest request = new DeleteObjectRequest
                {
                    BucketName = bucketName,
                    Key = keyName,
                    VersionId = versionID
                };
                Console.WriteLine("Deleting an object");
                await client.DeleteObjectAsync(request);
            }
            catch (AmazonS3Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error encountered on server. Message:'{0}' when deleting an object", e.Message);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Unknown encountered on server. Message:'{0}' when deleting an object", e.Message);
            }
        }

        static async Task<string> PutAnObject(string objectKey)
        {
            PutObjectRequest request = new PutObjectRequest
            {
                BucketName = bucketName,
                Key = objectKey,
                ContentBody = "This is the content body!"
            };
            PutObjectResponse response = await client.PutObjectAsync(request);
            return response.VersionId;
        }
    }
}

PHP

This example shows how to use classes from version 3 of the AWS SDK for PHP to delete an object from a non-versioned bucket. For information about deleting an object from a versioned bucket, see Using the REST API.

This example assumes that you are already following the instructions for Using the AWS SDK for PHP and Running PHP Examples and have the AWS SDK for PHP properly installed. For information about running the PHP examples in this guide, see Running PHP Examples.

The following PHP example deletes an object from a bucket. Because this example shows how to delete objects from non-versioned buckets, it provides only the bucket name and object key (not a version ID) in the delete request.

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Aws\S3\S3Client;
use Aws\S3\Exception\S3Exception;

$bucket = '*** Your Bucket Name ***';
$keyname = '*** Your Object Key ***';

$s3 = new S3Client([
    'version' => 'latest',
    'region'  => 'us-east-1'
]);

// 1. Delete the object from the bucket.
try
{
    echo 'Attempting to delete ' . $keyname . '...' . PHP_EOL;

    $result = $s3->deleteObject([
        'Bucket' => $bucket,
        'Key'    => $keyname
    ]);

    if ($result['DeleteMarker'])
    {
        echo $keyname . ' was deleted or does not exist.' . PHP_EOL;
    } else {
        exit('Error: ' . $keyname . ' was not deleted.' . PHP_EOL);
    }
}
catch (S3Exception $e) {
    exit('Error: ' . $e->getAwsErrorMessage() . PHP_EOL);
}

// 2. Check to see if the object was deleted.
try
{
    echo 'Checking to see if ' . $keyname . ' still exists...' . PHP_EOL;

    $result = $s3->getObject([
        'Bucket' => $bucket,
        'Key'    => $keyname
    ]);

    echo 'Error: ' . $keyname . ' still exists.';
}
catch (S3Exception $e) {
    exit($e->getAwsErrorMessage());
} 

Using the AWS CLI

To delete one object per request, use the DELETE API. For more information, see DELETE Object. For more information about using the CLI to delete an object, see delete-object.

Using the REST API

You can use the AWS SDKs to delete an object. However, if your application requires it, you can send REST requests directly. For more information, see DELETE Object in the Amazon Simple Storage Service API Reference.