Delete a document (HTTP)

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.

Result

Deletes a document that matches the specified parameters and returns an object that includes details about the number of documents that were deleted.

Example response:

{
  "status": {
    "deletedCount": 1
  }
}

Signature

Use the deleteOne command.

curl -sS -L -X POST "API_ENDPOINT/api/json/v1/KEYSPACE_NAME/COLLECTION_NAME" \
--header "Token: APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{
  "deleteOne": {
    "filter": FILTER,
    "sort": SORT
  }
}'

Parameters

Name Type Summary

filter

object

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 (HTTP).

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

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.

sort

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 (HTTP).

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

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.

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.

curl -sS -L -X POST "API_ENDPOINT/api/json/v1/KEYSPACE_NAME/COLLECTION_NAME" \
  --header "Token: APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
  "deleteOne": {
    "filter": {
      "_id": "101"
    }
  }
}'

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 (HTTP).

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.

curl -sS -L -X POST "API_ENDPOINT/api/json/v1/KEYSPACE_NAME/COLLECTION_NAME" \
  --header "Token: APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
  "deleteOne": {
    "filter": {"$and": [
      {"is_checked_out": false},
      {"number_of_pages": {"$lt": 300}}
    ]}
  }
}'

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 (HTTP).

You can provide the search vector as an array of floats, or you can use $binary to provide the search vector as a Base64-encoded string. $binary can be more performant.

For more information about how to convert an array of floats to a Base64-encoded string, see Binary encoding of vector embeddings.

Array of floats
curl -sS -L -X POST "API_ENDPOINT/api/json/v1/KEYSPACE_NAME/COLLECTION_NAME" \
  --header "Token: APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
  "deleteOne": {
    "filter": {},
    "sort": {
      "$vector": [0.08, -0.62, 0.39]
    }
  }
}'
$binary
curl -sS -L -X POST "API_ENDPOINT/api/json/v1/KEYSPACE_NAME/COLLECTION_NAME" \
  --header "Token: APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
  "deleteOne": {
    "filter": {},
    "sort": {
      "$vector": {"$binary": "PaPXCr8euFI+x64U"}
    }
  }
}'

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 (HTTP).

curl -sS -L -X POST "API_ENDPOINT/api/json/v1/KEYSPACE_NAME/COLLECTION_NAME" \
  --header "Token: APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
  "deleteOne": {
    "filter": {},
    "sort": { "$vectorize": "Text to vectorize" }
  }
}'

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 (HTTP).

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.

curl -sS -L -X POST "API_ENDPOINT/api/json/v1/KEYSPACE_NAME/COLLECTION_NAME" \
  --header "Token: APPLICATION_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
  "deleteOne": {
    "filter": { "metadata.language": "English" },
    "sort": {
      "rating": 1,
      "title": -1
    }
  }
}'

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