# Delete indices

**DELETE /{index}**

Deleting an index deletes its documents, shards, and metadata.
It does not delete related Kibana components, such as data views, visualizations, or dashboards.

You cannot delete the current write index of a data stream.
To delete the index, you must roll over the data stream so a new write index is created.
You can then use the delete index API to delete the previous write index.

## Required authorization

* Index privileges: `delete_index`



## Servers
- http://api.example.com: http://api.example.com ()


## Authentication methods
- Api key auth
- Basic auth
- Bearer auth


## Parameters

### Path parameters
- **index** (string | array[string])
  Comma-separated list of indices to delete.
  You cannot specify index aliases.
  By default, this parameter does not support wildcards (`*`) or `_all`.
  To use wildcards or `_all`, set the `action.destructive_requires_name` cluster setting to `false`.

### Query parameters
- **allow_no_indices** (boolean)
  If `false`, the request returns an error if any wildcard expression, index alias, or `_all` value targets only missing or closed indices.
  This behavior applies even if the request targets other open indices.
- **expand_wildcards** (string | array[string])
  Type of index that wildcard patterns can match.
  If the request can target data streams, this argument determines whether wildcard expressions match hidden data streams.
  Supports comma-separated values, such as `open,hidden`.

  Supported values include:
    - `all`: Match any data stream or index, including hidden ones.
    - `open`: Match open, non-hidden indices. Also matches any non-hidden data stream.
    - `closed`: Match closed, non-hidden indices. Also matches any non-hidden data stream. Data streams cannot be closed.
    - `hidden`: Match hidden data streams and hidden indices. Must be combined with `open`, `closed`, or `both`.
    - `none`: Wildcard expressions are not accepted.

- **ignore_unavailable** (boolean)
  If `false`, the request returns an error if it targets a missing or closed index.
- **master_timeout** (string)
  Period to wait for a connection to the master node.
  If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error.
- **timeout** (string)
  Period to wait for a response.
  If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error.


## Responses
### 200


#### Body: application/json (object)
- **acknowledged** (boolean)
  For a successful response, this value is always true. On failure, an exception is returned instead.
- **_shards** (object)



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