yq/commands/delete.md

---
description: Deletes all the matching nodes for the path expression in the given yaml input
---

# Delete

```text
yq delete <yaml_file|-> <path_expression>
```

See docs for [path expression](../usage/path-expressions.md) for more details.

## Deleting from a simple document

Given a sample.yaml file of:

```yaml
b:
  c: 2
  apples: green
```

then

```bash
yq d sample.yaml b.c
```

will output

```yaml
b:
  apples: green
```

## From STDIN

Use "-" \(without quotes\) in-place of a file name if you wish to pipe in input from STDIN.

```bash
cat sample.yaml | yq d - b.c
```

## Deleting in-place

```bash
yq d -i sample.yaml b.c
```

will update the sample.yaml file so that the 'c' node is deleted

## Multiple Documents

### Delete from single document

Given a sample.yaml file of:

```yaml
something: else
field: leaveMe
---
b:
  c: 2
field: deleteMe
```

then

```bash
yq w -d1 sample.yaml field
```

will output:

```yaml
something: else
field: leaveMe
---
b:
  c: 2
```

### Delete from all documents

Given a sample.yaml file of:

```yaml
something: else
field: deleteMe
---
b:
  c: 2
field: deleteMeToo
```

then

```bash
yq w -d'*' sample.yaml field
```

will output:

```yaml
something: else
---
b:
  c: 2
```