POST request to delete a page. Pages can be undeleted with the API:Undelete method.

MediaWiki version:
1.12

API documentation


Special:ApiHelp/delete

Example

The process has four steps:

  1. Fetch login token from API:Tokens.
  1. Send a POST request with the fetched login token and user information to the API.
  1. Retrieve a CSRF token when logged in.
  1. Send a post request to delete a page with the fetched CSRF token.

POST request

Response

{
    "delete": {
        "title": "page name",
        "reason": "content was: 'Test' and the only contributor was Username",
        "logid": 1234567
    }
}

Sample code

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    delete.py

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Delete` module: post request to delete a page
    MIT license
"""

import requests

S = requests.Session()

URL = "https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"

# Step1: Retrieve login token
PARAMS_0 = {
    'action':"query",
    'meta':"tokens",
    'type':"login",
    'format':"json"
}

R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS_0)
DATA = R.json()

LOGIN_TOKEN = DATA['query']['tokens']['logintoken']

# Step2: Send a post request to login. Use of main account for login is not
# supported. Obtain credentials via Special:BotPasswords
# (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:BotPasswords) for lgname & lgpassword
PARAMS_1 = {
    'action':"login",
    'lgname':"your_bot_username",
    'lgpassword':"your_bot_password",
    'lgtoken':LOGIN_TOKEN,
    'format':"json"
}

R = S.post(URL, data=PARAMS_1)

# Step 3: When logged in, retrieve a CSRF token
PARAMS_2 = {
    'action':"query",
    'meta':"tokens",
    'format':"json"
}

R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS_2)
DATA = R.json()

CSRF_TOKEN = DATA['query']['tokens']['csrftoken']

# Step 4: Send a post request to delete a page
PARAMS_3 = {
    'action':"delete",
    'title':"enter_a_page_title",
    'token':CSRF_TOKEN,
    'format':"json",
    'reason':'the reason for deletion'
}

R = S.post(URL, data=PARAMS_3)
DATA = R.json()

print(DATA)

PHP

<?php

/*
    delete.php

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Delete` module: post request to delete a page
    MIT license
*/

$endPoint = "http://dev.wiki.local.wmftest.net:8080/w/api.php";

$login_Token = getLoginToken(); // Step 1
loginRequest( $login_Token ); // Step 2
$csrf_Token = getCSRFToken(); // Step 3
delete( $csrf_Token ); // Step 4

// Step 1: GET request to fetch login token
function getLoginToken() {
	global $endPoint;

	$params1 = [
		"action" => "query",
		"meta" => "tokens",
		"type" => "login",
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$url = $endPoint . "?" . http_build_query( $params1 );

	$ch = curl_init( $url );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

	$result = json_decode( $output, true );
	return $result["query"]["tokens"]["logintoken"];
}

// Step 2: POST request to log in. Use of main account for login is not
// supported. Obtain credentials via Special:BotPasswords
// (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:BotPasswords) for lgname & lgpassword
function loginRequest( $logintoken ) {
	global $endPoint;

	$params2 = [
		"action" => "login",
		"lgname" => "bot_user_name",
		"lgpassword" => "bot_password",
		"lgtoken" => $logintoken,
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$ch = curl_init();

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, $endPoint );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query( $params2 ) );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

}

// Step 3: GET request to fetch CSRF token
function getCSRFToken() {
	global $endPoint;

	$params3 = [
		"action" => "query",
		"meta" => "tokens",
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$url = $endPoint . "?" . http_build_query( $params3 );

	$ch = curl_init( $url );

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

	$result = json_decode( $output, true );
	return $result["query"]["tokens"]["csrftoken"];
}

// Step 4: POST request to delete a page
function delete( $csrftoken ) {
	global $endPoint;

	$params4 = [
		"action" => "delete",
		"title" => "Sandbox",
		"token" => $csrftoken,
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$ch = curl_init();

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, $endPoint );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query( $params4 ) );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

	echo ( $output );
}

JavaScript

/*  
    delete.js
 
    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Delete` module: post request to delete a page

    MIT license
*/

var request = require('request').defaults({jar: true}),
    url = "http://dev.wiki.local.wmftest.net:8080/w/api.php";

// Step 1: GET request to fetch login token
function getLoginToken() {
    var params_0 = {
        action: "query",
        meta: "tokens",
        type: "login",
        format: "json"
    };

    request.get({ url: url, qs: params_0 }, function (error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        var data = JSON.parse(body);
        loginRequest(data.query.tokens.logintoken);
    });
}

// Step 2: POST request to log in. 
// Use of main account for login is not
// supported. Obtain credentials via Special:BotPasswords
// (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:BotPasswords) for lgname & lgpassword
function loginRequest(login_token) {
    var params_1 = {
        action: "login",
        lgname: "bot_username",
        lgpassword: "bot_password",
        lgtoken: login_token,
        format: "json"
    };

    request.post({ url: url, form: params_1 }, function (error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        getCsrfToken();
    });
}

// Step 3: GET request to fetch CSRF token
function getCsrfToken() {
    var params_2 = {
        action: "query",
        meta: "tokens",
        format: "json"
    };

    request.get({ url: url, qs: params_2 }, function(error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        var data = JSON.parse(body);
        delete_page(data.query.tokens.csrftoken);
    });
}

// Step 4: POST request to delete a page
function delete_page(csrf_token) {
    var params_3 = {
        action: "delete",
        title: "Test",
        token: csrf_token,
        format: "json"
    };

    request.post({ url: url, form: params_3 }, function (error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        console.log(body);
    });
}

// Start From Step 1
getLoginToken();

MediaWiki JS

/*
	delete.js

	MediaWiki API Demos
	Demo of `Delete` module: post request to delete a page

	MIT License
*/

var params = {
		action: 'delete',
		title: 'enter_a_page_title',
		format: 'json'
	},
	api = new mw.Api();

api.postWithToken( 'csrf', params ).done( function ( data ) {
	console.log( data );
} );

Possible errors

Code Info
missingtitleThe page you specified doesn't exist.
notokenThe token parameter must be set.
badtokenInvalid CSRF token.
permissiondeniedYou don't have permission to delete this page.
On most wikis, deleting pages is restricted to sysops, but other wikis may have different rules.
cantdeleteThe page or file "title" could not be deleted.

It may have already been deleted by someone else.

Parameter history

  • v1.38: Introduced deletetalk
  • v1.27: Introduced tags
  • v1.17: Deprecated watch, unwatch
  • v1.14: Introduced pageid
  • v1.13: Introduced watch, oldimage, unwatch

Additional notes

  • For older versions of MediaWiki, you can use API:Tokens (action) or API:Info to get an edit token in place of login token.
  • While executing the code snippets provided on this page, remember to use https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php as the endpoint, so that you don't accidentally delete pages on production wikis.
  • In addition to the delete right, other rights may be required, depending on the location and type of page.

Deleting a user's .css page, for example, also requires the editusercss right.

See also

  • API:Undelete - Undeletes a page.
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