Delete data from Cloud Firestore

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"));delete_document.js

Web version 8

db.collection("cities").doc("DC").delete().then(() => {
    console.log("Document successfully deleted!");
}).catch((error) => {
    console.error("Error removing document: ", error);
});test.firestore.js

Swift

db.collection("cities").document("DC").delete() { err in
    if let err = err {
        print("Error removing document: \(err)")
    } else {
        print("Document successfully removed!")
    }
}ViewController.swift

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!");
      }
}];ViewController.m

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);
            }
        });DocSnippets.java

Kotlin+KTX

db.collection("cities").document("DC")
        .delete()
        .addOnSuccessListener { Log.d(TAG, "DocumentSnapshot successfully deleted!") }
        .addOnFailureListener { e -> Log.w(TAG, "Error deleting document", e) }DocSnippets.kt

Java

// asynchronously delete a document
ApiFuture<WriteResult> writeResult = db.collection("cities").document("DC").delete();
// ...
System.out.println("Update time : " + writeResult.get().getUpdateTime());ManageDataSnippets.java

Python

db.collection(u'cities').document(u'DC').delete()snippets.py

Python

await db.collection("cities").document("DC").delete()snippets.py

C++

db->Collection("cities").Document("DC").Delete().OnCompletion(
    [](const Future<void>& future) {
      if (future.error() == Error::kErrorOk) {
        std::cout << "DocumentSnapshot successfully deleted!\n";
      } else {
        std::cout << "Error deleting document: " << future.error_message()
                  << '\n';
      }
    });snippets.cpp

Node.js

const res = await db.collection('cities').doc('DC').delete();index.js

Go

_, err := client.Collection("cities").Doc("DC").Delete(ctx)
if err != nil {
	// Handle any errors in an appropriate way, such as returning them.
	log.Printf("An error has occurred: %s", err)
}save.go

PHP

$db->collection('samples/php/cities')->document('DC')->delete();data_delete_doc.php

Unity

DocumentReference cityRef = db.Collection("cities").Document("DC");
cityRef.DeleteAsync();

C#

DocumentReference cityRef = db.Collection("cities").Document("DC");
await cityRef.DeleteAsync();Program.cs

Ruby

city_ref = firestore.doc "#{collection_path}/DC"
city_ref.deletedelete_data.rb

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()
});update_delete_field.js

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()
});test.firestore.js

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")
    }
}ViewController.swift

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");
  }
}];ViewController.m

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>() {
    // ...
    // ...DocSnippets.java

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 { }DocSnippets.kt

Java

DocumentReference docRef = db.collection("cities").document("BJ");
Map<String, Object> updates = new HashMap<>();
updates.put("capital", FieldValue.delete());
// Update and delete the "capital" field in the document
ApiFuture<WriteResult> writeResult = docRef.update(updates);
System.out.println("Update time : " + writeResult.get());ManageDataSnippets.java

Python

city_ref = db.collection(u'cities').document(u'BJ')
city_ref.update({
    u'capital': firestore.DELETE_FIELD
})snippets.py

Python

city_ref = db.collection("cities").document("BJ")
await city_ref.update({"capital": firestore.DELETE_FIELD})snippets.py

C++

DocumentReference doc_ref = db->Collection("cities").Document("BJ");
doc_ref.Update({{"capital", FieldValue::Delete()}})
    .OnCompletion([](const Future<void>& future) { /*...*/ });snippets.cpp

Node.js

// Get the `FieldValue` object
const FieldValue = admin.firestore.FieldValue;

// Create a document reference
const cityRef = db.collection('cities').doc('BJ');

// Remove the 'capital' field from the document
const res = await cityRef.update({
  capital: FieldValue.delete()
});index.js

Go

_, err := client.Collection("cities").Doc("BJ").Update(ctx, []firestore.Update{
	{
		Path:  "capital",
		Value: firestore.Delete,
	},
})
if err != nil {
	// Handle any errors in an appropriate way, such as returning them.
	log.Printf("An error has occurred: %s", err)
}save.go

PHP

$cityRef = $db->collection('samples/php/cities')->document('BJ');
$cityRef->update([
    ['path' => 'capital', 'value' => FieldValue::deleteField()]
]);data_delete_field.php

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);Program.cs

Ruby

city_ref = firestore.doc "#{collection_path}/BJ"
city_ref.update({ capital: firestore.field_delete })delete_data.rb

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 iOS client is not recommended.

Objective-C

// Deleting collections from an iOS 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.

Java

/** Delete a collection in batches to avoid out-of-memory errors.
 * Batch size may be tuned based on document size (atmost 1MB) and application requirements.
 */
void deleteCollection(CollectionReference collection, int batchSize) {
  try {
    // retrieve a small batch of documents to avoid out-of-memory errors
    ApiFuture<QuerySnapshot> future = collection.limit(batchSize).get();
    int deleted = 0;
    // future.get() blocks on document retrieval
    List<QueryDocumentSnapshot> documents = future.get().getDocuments();
    for (QueryDocumentSnapshot document : documents) {
      document.getReference().delete();
      ++deleted;
    }
    if (deleted >= batchSize) {
      // retrieve and delete another batch
      deleteCollection(collection, batchSize);
    }
  } catch (Exception e) {
    System.err.println("Error deleting collection : " + e.getMessage());
  }
}ManageDataSnippets.java

Python

def delete_collection(coll_ref, batch_size):
    docs = coll_ref.limit(batch_size).stream()
    deleted = 0

    for doc in docs:
        print(f'Deleting doc {doc.id} => {doc.to_dict()}')
        doc.reference.delete()
        deleted = deleted + 1

    if deleted >= batch_size:
        return delete_collection(coll_ref, batch_size)snippets.py

Python

async def delete_collection(coll_ref, batch_size):
    docs = coll_ref.limit(batch_size).stream()
    deleted = 0

    async for doc in docs:
        print(f"Deleting doc {doc.id} => {doc.to_dict()}")
        await doc.reference.delete()
        deleted = deleted + 1

    if deleted >= batch_size:
        return delete_collection(coll_ref, batch_size)
snippets.py

C++

// This is not supported. Delete data using CLI as discussed below.

Node.js

async function deleteCollection(db, collectionPath, batchSize) {
  const collectionRef = db.collection(collectionPath);
  const query = collectionRef.orderBy('__name__').limit(batchSize);

  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    deleteQueryBatch(db, query, resolve).catch(reject);
  });
}

async function deleteQueryBatch(db, query, resolve) {
  const snapshot = await query.get();

  const batchSize = snapshot.size;
  if (batchSize === 0) {
    // When there are no documents left, we are done
    resolve();
    return;
  }

  // Delete documents in a batch
  const batch = db.batch();
  snapshot.docs.forEach((doc) => {
    batch.delete(doc.ref);
  });
  await batch.commit();

  // Recurse on the next process tick, to avoid
  // exploding the stack.
  process.nextTick(() => {
    deleteQueryBatch(db, query, resolve);
  });
}
index.js

Go

func deleteCollection(ctx context.Context, client *firestore.Client,
	ref *firestore.CollectionRef, batchSize int) error {

	for {
		// Get a batch of documents
		iter := ref.Limit(batchSize).Documents(ctx)
		numDeleted := 0

		// Iterate through the documents, adding
		// a delete operation for each one to a
		// WriteBatch.
		batch := client.Batch()
		for {
			doc, err := iter.Next()
			if err == iterator.Done {
				break
			}
			if err != nil {
				return err
			}

			batch.Delete(doc.Ref)
			numDeleted++
		}

		// If there are no documents to delete,
		// the process is over.
		if numDeleted == 0 {
			return nil
		}

		_, err := batch.Commit(ctx)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
	}
}
save.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();
    }
}data_delete_collection.php

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.");
}Program.cs

Ruby

cities_ref = firestore.col collection_path
query      = cities_ref

query.get do |document_snapshot|
  puts "Deleting document #{document_snapshot.document_id}."
  document_ref = document_snapshot.ref
  document_ref.delete
enddelete_data.rb

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.