Delete a document (Java)

Finds a single document in a collection using filter and sort clauses, and then deletes that document.

This method and the method to find and delete a document have the same database effect but differ in their return value. This method returns details about the success of the deletion. The method to find and delete a document returns the document that was found and deleted.

Ready to write code? See the examples for this method to get started. If you are new to the Data API, check out the quickstart.

Result

Deletes a document that matches the specified parameters and returns CollectionDeleteResult, which includes the number of documents that were deleted.

Parameters

Use the deleteOne method, which belongs to the com.datastax.astra.client.Collection class.

Method signature

CollectionDeleteResult deleteOne(
  Filter filter
)

CollectionDeleteResult deleteOne(
  Filter filter,
  CollectionDeleteOneOptions options
)

Name Type Summary

Name	Type	Summary
`filter`	`Filter`	An object that defines filter criteria using the Data API filter syntax. The method only finds documents that match the filter criteria. Filters can improve performance by reducing the number of documents that the Data API processes. You must use `&` to escape any `.` or `&` in field names in the filter clause. You cannot use `&` to escape any other characters. For more information, see Work with `.` and `&` in field names (Java). For a list of available filter operators and more examples, see Filter operators for collections (Java). Filters can use only indexed fields. If you apply selective indexing when you create a collection, you cannot reference non-indexed fields in a filter. For an example, see Delete a document that matches a filter.
`options`	`CollectionDeleteOneOptions`	Optional. The options for this operation. See Methods of the `CollectionDeleteOneOptions ` class for more details.

filter

Filter

An object that defines filter criteria using the Data API filter syntax. The method only finds documents that match the filter criteria. Filters can improve performance by reducing the number of documents that the Data API processes.

You must use & to escape any . or & in field names in the filter clause. You cannot use & to escape any other characters. For more information, see Work with . and & in field names (Java).

For a list of available filter operators and more examples, see Filter operators for collections (Java).

Filters can use only indexed fields. If you apply selective indexing when you create a collection, you cannot reference non-indexed fields in a filter.

For an example, see Delete a document that matches a filter.

options

CollectionDeleteOneOptions

Optional. The options for this operation. See Methods of the `CollectionDeleteOneOptions ` class for more details.

Methods of the `CollectionDeleteOneOptions ` class
Method	Parameters	Summary
`sort()`	`float[] \| String \| Sort \| Map<String, Object>`	Optional. Sorts documents by one or more fields, or performs a vector search. You must use `&` to escape any `.` or `&` in field names in the sort clause. You cannot use `&` to escape any other characters. For more information, see Work with `.` and `&` in field names (Java). For more information, see Sort clauses for collections (Java). Sort clauses can use only indexed fields. If you apply selective indexing when you create a collection, you cannot reference non-indexed fields in sort queries. For vector searches, this parameter can use either `$vector` or `$vectorize`. For examples, see Delete a document after applying a non-vector sort, Delete a document that is most similar to a search vector, and Delete a document that is most similar to a search string.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate how to delete a document in a collection.

Delete a document by ID

All documents have a unique _id property. You can use a filter to find a document with a specific _id, and then delete that document.

import com.datastax.astra.client.DataAPIClient;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.Collection;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.commands.results.CollectionDeleteResult;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.definition.documents.Document;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Filter;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Filters;

public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Get an existing collection
    Collection<Document> collection =
        new DataAPIClient("APPLICATION_TOKEN")
            .getDatabase("API_ENDPOINT")
            .getCollection("COLLECTION_NAME");

    // Delete a document
    Filter filter = Filters.eq("_id", "101");
    CollectionDeleteResult result = collection.deleteOne(filter);
    System.out.println(result.getDeletedCount());
  }
}

Delete a document that matches a filter

You can use a filter to find a document that matches specific criteria. For example, you can find a document with an is_checked_out value of false and a number_of_pages value less than 300.

For a list of available filter operators and more examples, see Filter operators for collections (Java).

Filters can use only indexed fields. If you apply selective indexing when you create a collection, you cannot reference non-indexed fields in a filter.

import com.datastax.astra.client.DataAPIClient;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.Collection;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.commands.results.CollectionDeleteResult;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.definition.documents.Document;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Filter;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Filters;

public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Get an existing collection
    Collection<Document> collection =
        new DataAPIClient("APPLICATION_TOKEN")
            .getDatabase("API_ENDPOINT")
            .getCollection("COLLECTION_NAME");

    // Delete a document
    Filter filter =
        Filters.and(Filters.eq("is_checked_out", false), Filters.lt("number_of_pages", 300));
    CollectionDeleteResult result = collection.deleteOne(filter);
    System.out.println(result.getDeletedCount());
  }
}

Delete a document that is most similar to a search vector

To find the document whose $vector value is most similar to a given vector, use a sort with the vector embeddings that you want to match. For more information, see Find data with vector search.

Vector search is only available for vector-enabled collections. For more information, see Create a collection that can store vector embeddings and $vector in collections (Java).

import com.datastax.astra.client.DataAPIClient;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.Collection;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.commands.options.CollectionDeleteOneOptions;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.commands.results.CollectionDeleteResult;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.definition.documents.Document;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Filter;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Sort;

public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Get an existing collection
    Collection<Document> collection =
        new DataAPIClient("APPLICATION_TOKEN")
            .getDatabase("API_ENDPOINT")
            .getCollection("COLLECTION_NAME");

    // Delete a document
    Filter filter = new Filter();
    CollectionDeleteOneOptions options =
        new CollectionDeleteOneOptions().sort(Sort.vector(new float[] {0.08f, -0.62f, 0.39f}));
    CollectionDeleteResult result = collection.deleteOne(filter, options);
    System.out.println(result.getDeletedCount());
  }
}

Delete a document that is most similar to a search string

To find the document whose $vector value is most similar to the $vector value of a given search string, use a sort with the search string that you want to vectorize and match. For more information, see Find data with vector search.

Vector search with vectorize is only available for collections that have vectorize enabled. For more information, see Create a collection that can automatically generate vector embeddings and $vectorize in collections (Java).

import com.datastax.astra.client.DataAPIClient;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.Collection;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.commands.options.CollectionDeleteOneOptions;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.commands.results.CollectionDeleteResult;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.definition.documents.Document;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Filter;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Sort;

public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Get an existing collection
    Collection<Document> collection =
        new DataAPIClient("APPLICATION_TOKEN")
            .getDatabase("API_ENDPOINT")
            .getCollection("COLLECTION_NAME");

    // Delete a document
    Filter filter = new Filter();
    CollectionDeleteOneOptions options =
        new CollectionDeleteOneOptions().sort(Sort.vectorize("Text to vectorize"));
    CollectionDeleteResult result = collection.deleteOne(filter, options);
    System.out.println(result.getDeletedCount());
  }
}

Delete a document after applying a non-vector sort

You can use a sort clause to sort documents by one or more fields.

For more information, see Sort clauses for collections (Java).

Sort clauses can use only indexed fields. If you apply selective indexing when you create a collection, you cannot reference non-indexed fields in sort queries.

import com.datastax.astra.client.DataAPIClient;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.Collection;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.commands.options.CollectionDeleteOneOptions;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.commands.results.CollectionDeleteResult;
import com.datastax.astra.client.collections.definition.documents.Document;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Filter;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Filters;
import com.datastax.astra.client.core.query.Sort;

public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Get an existing collection
    Collection<Document> collection =
        new DataAPIClient("APPLICATION_TOKEN")
            .getDatabase("API_ENDPOINT")
            .getCollection("COLLECTION_NAME");

    // Delete a document
    Filter filter = Filters.eq("metadata.language", "English");
    CollectionDeleteOneOptions options =
        new CollectionDeleteOneOptions().sort(Sort.ascending("rating"), Sort.descending("title"));
    CollectionDeleteResult result = collection.deleteOne(filter, options);
    System.out.println(result.getDeletedCount());
  }
}

Client reference

For more information, see the client reference.

Delete a document (Java)

Result

Parameters

Examples

Delete a document by ID

Delete a document that matches a filter

Delete a document that is most similar to a search vector

Delete a document that is most similar to a search string

Delete a document after applying a non-vector sort

Client reference

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