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:

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

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

[[[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
  

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

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

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

var deleteDoc = db.collection('cities').doc('DC').delete();
index.js

_, 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

$db->collection('cities')->document('DC')->delete();
delete_doc.php

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

city_ref = firestore.doc "cities/DC"
city_ref.delete
delete_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:

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

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

[[[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
  

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

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

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

// Get the `FieldValue` object
var FieldValue = require('firebase-admin').firestore.FieldValue;

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

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

_, 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

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

DocumentReference cityRef = db.Collection("cities").Document("BJ");
Dictionary<string, object> updates = new Dictionary<string, object>
{
    { "Capital", FieldValue.Delete }
};
await cityRef.UpdateAsync(updates);
Program.cs

city_ref = firestore.doc "cities/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.

// Deleting collections from a Web client is not recommended.

// Deleting collections from an iOS client is not recommended.

// Deleting collections from an iOS client is not recommended.
  

// Deleting collections from an Android client is not recommended.

/** 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

def delete_collection(coll_ref, batch_size):
    docs = coll_ref.limit(10).get()
    deleted = 0

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

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

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

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

function deleteQueryBatch(db, query, batchSize, resolve, reject) {
  query.get()
    .then((snapshot) => {
      // When there are no documents left, we are done
      if (snapshot.size == 0) {
        return 0;
      }

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

      return batch.commit().then(() => {
        return snapshot.size;
      });
    }).then((numDeleted) => {
      if (numDeleted === 0) {
        resolve();
        return;
      }

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

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

function delete_collection($collectionReference, $batchSize)
{
    $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();
    }
}
delete_collection.php

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

cities_ref = firestore.col "cities"
query      = cities_ref

query.get do |document_snapshot|
  puts "Deleting document #{document_snapshot.document_id}."
  document_ref = document_snapshot.ref
  document_ref.delete
end
delete_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>>