Web/API/IDBObjectStore/delete

The delete() method of the IDBObjectStore interface returns an IDBRequest object, and, in a separate thread, deletes the specified record or records.

Either a key or an IDBKeyRange can be passed, allowing one or multiple records to be deleted from a store. To delete all records in a store, use IDBObjectStore.clear.

Bear in mind that if you are using a IDBCursor, you can use the IDBCursor.delete() method to more efficiently delete the current record — without having to explicitly look up the record's key.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

Syntax

var request = objectStore.delete(Key);

var request = objectStore.delete(KeyRange);

Parameters

Key: The key of the record to be deleted, or an IDBKeyRange to delete all records with keys in range.

Return value

An IDBRequest object on which subsequent events related to this operation are fired. The request.result attribute is set to undefined.

Exceptions

This method may raise a DOMException of the following types:

Exception	Description
`TransactionInactiveError`	This object store's transaction is inactive.
`ReadOnlyError`	The object store's transaction mode is read-only.
`InvalidStateError`	The object store has been deleted.
`DataError`	The `key` is not a valid key or a key range.

Example

In the following code snippet, we open a read/write transaction on our database and delete one specific record out of our object store using delete() — a sample record with the key "Walk dog". For a full working example, see our To-do Notifications app ([[../../../../../../../mdn.github.io/to-do-notifications/index|view example live]].)

// Let us open our database
var DBOpenRequest = window.indexedDB.open("toDoList", 4);

DBOpenRequest.onsuccess = function(event) {
  note.innerHTML += '<li>Database initialised.</li>';
    
  // store the result of opening the database in the db variable. This is used a lot below
  db = DBOpenRequest.result;
    
  // Run the deleteData() function to delete a record from the database
  deleteData();
};

function deleteData() {
  // open a read/write db transaction, ready for deleting the data
  var transaction = db.transaction(["toDoList"], "readwrite");

  // report on the success of the transaction completing, when everything is done
  transaction.oncomplete = function(event) {
    note.innerHTML += '<li>Transaction completed.</li>';
  };

  transaction.onerror = function(event) {
    note.innerHTML += '<li>Transaction not opened due to error: ' + transaction.error + '</li>';
  };

  // create an object store on the transaction
  var objectStore = transaction.objectStore("toDoList");

  // Make a request to delete the specified record out of the object store
  var objectStoreRequest = objectStore.delete("Walk dog");

  objectStoreRequest.onsuccess = function(event) {
    // report the success of our request
    note.innerHTML += '<li>Request successful.</li>';
  };
};

Specification

Specification	Status	Comment
Indexed Database API 2.0The definition of 'delete()' in that specification.	Recommendation
Indexed Database API DraftThe definition of 'delete()' in that specification.	Recommendation

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`delete`	Chrome Full support 24 Full support 24 No support 23 — 57 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 16 Full support 16 No support 10 — 16 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: moz	IE Partial support 10	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 7	WebView Android Full support Yes Full support Yes No support ? — 57 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Chrome Android Full support 25 Full support 25 No support 25 — 57 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Firefox Android Full support 22	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 8	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5 Full support 1.5 No support 1.5 — 7.0 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit

Legend

Full support: Full support
Partial support: Partial support
Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.': Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.