The following examples demonstrate how to delete documents, fields, and collections.
Delete documents
To delete a document, use the delete()
method:
Web version 9
import { doc, deleteDoc } from "firebase/firestore"; await deleteDoc(doc(db, "cities", "DC"));
Web version 8
db.collection("cities").doc("DC").delete().then(() => { console.log("Document successfully deleted!"); }).catch((error) => { console.error("Error removing document: ", error); });
Swift
db.collection("cities").document("DC").delete() { err in if let err = err { print("Error removing document: \(err)") } else { print("Document successfully removed!") } }
Objective-C
[[[self.db collectionWithPath:@"cities"] documentWithPath:@"DC"] deleteDocumentWithCompletion:^(NSError * _Nullable error) { if (error != nil) { NSLog(@"Error removing document: %@", error); } else { NSLog(@"Document successfully removed!"); } }];
Java
db.collection("cities").document("DC") .delete() .addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener<Void>() { @Override public void onSuccess(Void aVoid) { Log.d(TAG, "DocumentSnapshot successfully deleted!"); } }) .addOnFailureListener(new OnFailureListener() { @Override public void onFailure(@NonNull Exception e) { Log.w(TAG, "Error deleting document", e); } });
Kotlin+KTX
db.collection("cities").document("DC") .delete() .addOnSuccessListener { Log.d(TAG, "DocumentSnapshot successfully deleted!") } .addOnFailureListener { e -> Log.w(TAG, "Error deleting document", e) }
Dart
db.collection("cities").doc("DC").delete().then( (doc) => print("Document deleted"), onError: (e) => print("Error updating document $e"), );
Java
Python
Python
C++
db->Collection("cities").Document("DC").Delete().OnCompletion( [](const Future<void>& future) { if (future.error() == Error::kErrorOk) { std::cout << "DocumentSnapshot successfully deleted!" << std::endl; } else { std::cout << "Error deleting document: " << future.error_message() << std::endl; } });
Node.js
Go
PHP
$db->collection('samples/php/cities')->document('DC')->delete();
Unity
DocumentReference cityRef = db.Collection("cities").Document("DC"); cityRef.DeleteAsync();
C#
DocumentReference cityRef = db.Collection("cities").Document("DC"); await cityRef.DeleteAsync();
Ruby
When you delete a document, Cloud Firestore does not automatically
delete the documents within its
subcollections. You can still access the subcollection documents by reference.
For example, you can access the document at path
/mycoll/mydoc/mysubcoll/mysubdoc
even
if you delete the ancestor document at /mycoll/mydoc
.
Non-existent ancestor documents appear in the console, but they do not appear in query results and snapshots.
If you want to delete a document and all the documents within its subcollections, you must do so manually. For more information, see Delete Collections.
Delete fields
To delete specific fields from a document, use the FieldValue.delete()
method
when you update a document:
Web version 9
import { doc, updateDoc, deleteField } from "firebase/firestore"; const cityRef = doc(db, 'cities', 'BJ'); // Remove the 'capital' field from the document await updateDoc(cityRef, { capital: deleteField() });
Web version 8
var cityRef = db.collection('cities').doc('BJ'); // Remove the 'capital' field from the document var removeCapital = cityRef.update({ capital: firebase.firestore.FieldValue.delete() });
Swift
db.collection("cities").document("BJ").updateData([ "capital": FieldValue.delete(), ]) { err in if let err = err { print("Error updating document: \(err)") } else { print("Document successfully updated") } }
Objective-C
[[[self.db collectionWithPath:@"cities"] documentWithPath:@"BJ"] updateData:@{ @"capital": [FIRFieldValue fieldValueForDelete] } completion:^(NSError * _Nullable error) { if (error != nil) { NSLog(@"Error updating document: %@", error); } else { NSLog(@"Document successfully updated"); } }];
Java
DocumentReference docRef = db.collection("cities").document("BJ"); // Remove the 'capital' field from the document Map<String,Object> updates = new HashMap<>(); updates.put("capital", FieldValue.delete()); docRef.update(updates).addOnCompleteListener(new OnCompleteListener<Void>() { // ... // ...
Kotlin+KTX
val docRef = db.collection("cities").document("BJ") // Remove the 'capital' field from the document val updates = hashMapOf<String, Any>( "capital" to FieldValue.delete() ) docRef.update(updates).addOnCompleteListener { }
Dart
final docRef = db.collection("cities").doc("BJ"); // Remove the 'capital' field from the document final updates = <String, dynamic>{ "capital": FieldValue.delete(), }; docRef.update(updates);
Java
Python
Python
C++
DocumentReference doc_ref = db->Collection("cities").Document("BJ"); doc_ref.Update({{"capital", FieldValue::Delete()}}) .OnCompletion([](const Future<void>& future) { /*...*/ });
Node.js
Go
PHP
$cityRef = $db->collection('samples/php/cities')->document('BJ'); $cityRef->update([ ['path' => 'capital', 'value' => FieldValue::deleteField()] ]);
Unity
DocumentReference cityRef = db.Collection("cities").Document("BJ"); Dictionary<string, object> updates = new Dictionary<string, object> { { "Capital", FieldValue.Delete } };
C#
DocumentReference cityRef = db.Collection("cities").Document("BJ"); Dictionary<string, object> updates = new Dictionary<string, object> { { "Capital", FieldValue.Delete } }; await cityRef.UpdateAsync(updates);
Ruby
Delete collections
To delete an entire collection or subcollection in Cloud Firestore, retrieve all the documents within the collection or subcollection and delete them. If you have larger collections, you may want to delete the documents in smaller batches to avoid out-of-memory errors. Repeat the process until you've deleted the entire collection or subcollection.
Deleting a collection requires coordinating an unbounded number of individual delete requests. If you need to delete entire collections, do so only from a trusted server environment. While it is possible to delete a collection from a mobile/web client, doing so has negative security and performance implications.
The snippets below are somewhat simplified and do not deal with error handling, security, deleting subcollections, or maximizing performance. To learn more about one recommended approach to deleting collections in production, see Deleting Collections and Subcollections.
Web
// Deleting collections from a Web client is not recommended.
Swift
// Deleting collections from an Apple client is not recommended.
Objective-C
// Deleting collections from an Apple client is not recommended.
Java
// Deleting collections from an Android client is not recommended.
Kotlin+KTX
// Deleting collections from an Android client is not recommended.
Dart
Deleting collections from the client is not recommended.
Java
Python
Python
C++
// This is not supported. Delete data using CLI as discussed below.
Node.js
Go
PHP
function data_delete_collection(string $projectId, string $collectionName, int $batchSize) { // Create the Cloud Firestore client $db = new FirestoreClient([ 'projectId' => $projectId, ]); $collectionReference = $db->collection($collectionName); $documents = $collectionReference->limit($batchSize)->documents(); while (!$documents->isEmpty()) { foreach ($documents as $document) { printf('Deleting document %s' . PHP_EOL, $document->id()); $document->reference()->delete(); } $documents = $collectionReference->limit($batchSize)->documents(); } }
Unity
// This is not supported. Delete data using CLI as discussed below.
C#
private static async Task DeleteCollection(CollectionReference collectionReference, int batchSize) { QuerySnapshot snapshot = await collectionReference.Limit(batchSize).GetSnapshotAsync(); IReadOnlyList<DocumentSnapshot> documents = snapshot.Documents; while (documents.Count > 0) { foreach (DocumentSnapshot document in documents) { Console.WriteLine("Deleting document {0}", document.Id); await document.Reference.DeleteAsync(); } snapshot = await collectionReference.Limit(batchSize).GetSnapshotAsync(); documents = snapshot.Documents; } Console.WriteLine("Finished deleting all documents from the collection."); }
Ruby
Delete data with the Firebase CLI
You can also use the Firebase CLI to delete documents and collections. Use the following command to delete data:
firebase firestore:delete [options] <<path>>
Delete data with the console
You can delete documents and collections from the Cloud Firestore page in the console. Deleting a document from the console deletes all of the nested data in that document, including any subcollections.