---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Commands: KV Delete"
sidebar_current: "docs-commands-kv-delete"
---

# Consul KV Delete

Command: `consul kv delete`

The `kv delete` command removes the value from Consul's key-value store at the
given path. If no key exists at the path, no action is taken.

## Usage

Usage: `consul kv delete [options] KEY_OR_PREFIX`

#### API Options

<%= partial "docs/commands/http_api_options" %>

#### KV Delete Options

* `-cas` - Perform a Check-And-Set operation. If this value is specified without
  -modify-index, the key will first be fetched and the resulting ModifyIndex
  will be used on the next query. The default value is false.

* `-modify-index=<int>` - Unsigned integer representing the ModifyIndex of the
  key. This is often combined with the -cas flag, but it can be specified for
  any key. The default value is 0.

* `-recurse` - Recursively delete all keys with the path. The default value is
  false.

## Examples

To remove the value for the key named "redis/config/connections" in the
key-value store:

```
$ consul kv delete redis/config/connections
Success! Deleted key: redis/config/connections
```

If the key does not exist, the command will not error, and a success message
will be returned:

```
$ consul kv delete not-a-real-key
Success! Deleted key: not-a-real-key
```

To only delete a key if it has not been modified since a given index, specify
the `-cas` and `-modify-index` flags:

```
$ consul kv get -detailed redis/config/connections | grep ModifyIndex
ModifyIndex      456

$ consul kv delete -cas -modify-index=123 redis/config/connections
Error! Did not delete key redis/config/connections: CAS failed

$ consul kv delete -cas -modify-index=456 redis/config/connections
Success! Deleted key: redis/config/connections
```

It is also possible to have Consul fetch the current ModifyIndex before making
the query, by omitting the `-modify-index` flag. If the data is changed between
the initial read and the write, the operation will fail.

```
$ consul kv delete -cas redis/config/connections
Success! Deleted key: redis/config/connections
```

To recursively delete all keys that start with a given prefix, specify the
`-recurse` flag:

```
$ consul kv delete -recurse redis/
Success! Deleted keys with prefix: redis/
```

!> **Trailing slashes are important** in the recursive delete operation, since
Consul performs a greedy match on the provided prefix. If you were to use "foo"
as the key, this would recursively delete any key starting with those letters
such as "foo", "food", and "football" not just "foo". To ensure you are deleting
a folder, always use a trailing slash.

It is not valid to combine the `-cas` option with `-recurse`, since you are
deleting multiple keys under a prefix in a single operation:

```
$ consul kv delete -cas -recurse redis/
Cannot specify both -cas and -recurse!
```