rclone/docs/content/commands/rclone_delete.md

---
date: 2020-05-22T09:52:00+01:00
title: "rclone delete"
description: "Remove the contents of path."
slug: rclone_delete
url: /commands/rclone_delete/
# autogenerated - DO NOT EDIT, instead edit the source code in cmd/delete/ and as part of making a release run "make commanddocs"
---
# rclone delete

Remove the contents of path.

## Synopsis


Remove the files in path.  Unlike `purge` it obeys include/exclude
filters so can be used to selectively delete files.

`rclone delete` only deletes objects but leaves the directory structure
alone. If you want to delete a directory and all of its contents use
`rclone purge`

If you supply the --rmdirs flag, it will remove all empty directories along with it.

Eg delete all files bigger than 100MBytes

Check what would be deleted first (use either)

    rclone --min-size 100M lsl remote:path
    rclone --dry-run --min-size 100M delete remote:path

Then delete

    rclone --min-size 100M delete remote:path

That reads "delete everything with a minimum size of 100 MB", hence
delete all files bigger than 100MBytes.


```
rclone delete remote:path [flags]
```

## Options

```
  -h, --help     help for delete
      --rmdirs   rmdirs removes empty directories but leaves root intact
```

See the [global flags page](/flags/) for global options not listed here.

## SEE ALSO

* [rclone](/commands/rclone/)	 - Show help for rclone commands, flags and backends.
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00			`---`
docs: make command docs titles be one higher 2020-05-22 10:17:37 +00:00			`date: 2020-05-22T09:52:00+01:00`
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00			`title: "rclone delete"`
docs: add description to commands and index page 2020-05-16 14:11:55 +00:00			`description: "Remove the contents of path."`
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00			`slug: rclone_delete`
			`url: /commands/rclone_delete/`
gendocs: add autogenerated header to all docs 2020-02-10 12:31:45 +00:00			`# autogenerated - DO NOT EDIT, instead edit the source code in cmd/delete/ and as part of making a release run "make commanddocs"`
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00			`---`
docs: make command docs titles be one higher 2020-05-22 10:17:37 +00:00			`# rclone delete`
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00
			`Remove the contents of path.`

docs: make command docs titles be one higher 2020-05-22 10:17:37 +00:00			`## Synopsis`
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00

Version v1.45 2018-11-24 13:44:25 +00:00			Remove the files in path. Unlike `purge` it obeys include/exclude
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00			`filters so can be used to selectively delete files.`

Version v1.45 2018-11-24 13:44:25 +00:00			`rclone delete` only deletes objects but leaves the directory structure
			`alone. If you want to delete a directory and all of its contents use`
			`rclone purge`

docs: add description to commands and index page 2020-05-16 14:11:55 +00:00			`If you supply the --rmdirs flag, it will remove all empty directories along with it.`

Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00			`Eg delete all files bigger than 100MBytes`

			`Check what would be deleted first (use either)`

			`rclone --min-size 100M lsl remote:path`
			`rclone --dry-run --min-size 100M delete remote:path`

			`Then delete`

			`rclone --min-size 100M delete remote:path`

			`That reads "delete everything with a minimum size of 100 MB", hence`
			`delete all files bigger than 100MBytes.`


			```
Version v1.38 2017-09-30 13:19:47 +00:00			`rclone delete remote:path [flags]`
			```

docs: make command docs titles be one higher 2020-05-22 10:17:37 +00:00			`## Options`
Version v1.38 2017-09-30 13:19:47 +00:00
			```
docs: add description to commands and index page 2020-05-16 14:11:55 +00:00			`-h, --help help for delete`
			`--rmdirs rmdirs removes empty directories but leaves root intact`
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00			```

docs: add a new page with global flags and link to it from the command docs In f544234 we removed the global flags from each command as it was making each page very big and causing 1000s of lines of duplication in the man page. This change adds a new flags page with all the global flags on and links each command page to it. Fixes #3273 2019-06-20 15:18:02 +00:00			`See the [global flags page](/flags/) for global options not listed here.`

docs: make command docs titles be one higher 2020-05-22 10:17:37 +00:00			`## SEE ALSO`
Use cobra autogenerated docs * put the most up to date docs into the code * generate command docs using rclone gendocs * put command docs into own directory * remake them into MANUAL.md 2016-08-03 20:36:28 +00:00
Version v1.44 2018-10-15 10:03:08 +00:00			`* [rclone](/commands/rclone/) - Show help for rclone commands, flags and backends.`
Version v1.40 2018-03-19 10:06:13 +00:00