LDAPDELETE(1) General Commands Manual LDAPDELETE(1)
NAME
ldapdelete - LDAP delete entry tool
SYNOPSIS
ldapdelete [-V[V]] [-d debuglevel] [-n] [-v] [-c] [-f file] [-r]
[-z sizelimit] [-M[M]] [-x] [-D binddn] [-W] [-w passwd] [-y passwdfile]
[-H ldapuri] [-P {2|3}] [-e [!]ext[=extparam]] [-E [!]ext[=extparam]]
[-o opt[=optparam]] [-O security-properties] [-I] [-Q] [-N] [-U authcid]
[-R realm] [-X authzid] [-Y mech] [-Z[Z]] [DN [...]]
DESCRIPTION
ldapdelete is a shell-accessible interface to the ldap_delete_ext(3) li-
brary call.
ldapdelete opens a connection to an LDAP server, binds, and deletes one
or more entries. If one or more DN arguments are provided, entries with
those Distinguished Names are deleted. Each DN should be provided using
the LDAPv3 string representation as defined in RFC 4514. If no DN argu-
ments are provided, a list of DNs is read from standard input (or from
file if the -f flag is used).
OPTIONS
-V[V] Print version info. If -VV is given, only the version informa-
tion is printed.
-d debuglevel
Set the LDAP debugging level to debuglevel. ldapdelete must be
compiled with LDAP_DEBUG defined for this option to have any ef-
fect.
-n Show what would be done, but don't actually delete entries. Use-
ful for debugging in conjunction with -v.
-v Use verbose mode, with many diagnostics written to standard out-
put.
-c Continuous operation mode. Errors are reported, but
ldapdelete will continue with deletions. The default is to
exit after reporting an error.
-f file
Read a series of DNs from file, one per line, performing an LDAP
delete for each.
-r Do a recursive delete. If the DN specified isn't a leaf, its
children, and all their children are deleted down the tree. No
verification is done, so if you add this switch, ldapdelete will
happily delete large portions of your tree. Use with care.
-z sizelimit
Use sizelimit when searching for children DN to delete, to cir-
cumvent any server-side size limit. Only useful in conjunction
with -r.
-M[M] Enable manage DSA IT control. -MM makes control critical.
-x Use simple authentication instead of SASL.
-D binddn
Use the Distinguished Name binddn to bind to the LDAP directory.
For SASL binds, the server is expected to ignore this value.
-W Prompt for simple authentication. This is used instead of speci-
fying the password on the command line.
-w passwd
Use passwd as the password for simple authentication.
-y passwdfile
Use complete contents of passwdfile as the password for simple
authentication.
-H ldapuri
Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s); only the proto-
col/host/port fields are allowed; a list of URI, separated by
whitespace or commas is expected.
-P {2|3}
Specify the LDAP protocol version to use.
-e [!]ext[=extparam]
-E [!]ext[=extparam]
Specify general extensions with -e and delete extensions with -E.
´!´ indicates criticality.
General extensions:
[!]assert=<filter> (an RFC 4515 Filter)
!authzid=<authzid> ("dn:<dn>" or "u:<user>")
[!]bauthzid (RFC 3829 authzid control)
[!]chaining[=<resolve>[/<cont>]]
[!]manageDSAit
[!]noop
ppolicy
[!]postread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
[!]preread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
[!]relax
sessiontracking[=<username>]
abandon,cancel,ignore (SIGINT sends abandon/cancel,
or ignores response; if critical, doesn't wait for SIGINT.
not really controls)
Delete extensions:
(none)
-o opt[=optparam]
Specify any ldap.conf(5) option or one of the following:
nettimeout=<timeout> (in seconds, or "none" or "max")
ldif_wrap=<width> (in columns, or "no" for no wrapping)
-O security-properties
Specify SASL security properties.
-I Enable SASL Interactive mode. Always prompt. Default is to
prompt only as needed.
-Q Enable SASL Quiet mode. Never prompt.
-N Do not use reverse DNS to canonicalize SASL host name.
-U authcid
Specify the authentication ID for SASL bind. The form of the
identity depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
-R realm
Specify the realm of authentication ID for SASL bind. The form of
the realm depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
-X authzid
Specify the requested authorization ID for SASL bind. authzid
must be one of the following formats: dn:<distinguished name> or
u:<username>
-Y mech
Specify the SASL mechanism to be used for authentication. If it's
not specified, the program will choose the best mechanism the
server knows.
-Z[Z] Issue StartTLS (Transport Layer Security) extended operation. If
you use -ZZ, the command will require the operation to be suc-
cessful.
EXAMPLE
The following command:
ldapdelete "cn=Delete Me,dc=example,dc=com"
will attempt to delete the entry named "cn=Delete Me,dc=example,dc=com".
Of course it would probably be necessary to supply authentication cre-
dentials.
DIAGNOSTICS
Exit status is 0 if no errors occur. Errors result in a non-zero exit
status and a diagnostic message being written to standard error.
SEE ALSO
ldap.conf(5), ldapadd(1), ldapmodify(1), ldapmodrdn(1), ldapsearch(1),
ldap(3), ldap_delete_ext(3)
AUTHOR
The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project
<http://www.openldap.org/>. OpenLDAP Software is derived from the Uni-
versity of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.
OpenLDAP 2.6.10+dfsg-1 2025/05/22 LDAPDELETE(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:51:40 CET 2025.