API:Delete

MediaWiki Action API
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POST Request to delete a page.

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.12

API documentation

action=delete (main | delete) This module requires read rights. This module requires write rights. This module only accepts POST requests. Source: MediaWiki License: GPL-2.0-or-later Delete a page. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Delete Parameters: title Title of the page to delete. Cannot be used together with pageid. pageid Page ID of the page to delete. Cannot be used together with title. Type: integer reason Reason for the deletion. If not set, an automatically generated reason will be used. tags Change tags to apply to the entry in the deletion log. Values (separate with | or alternative): watch Deprecated. Add the page to the current user's watchlist. Type: boolean (details) watchlist Unconditionally add or remove the page from the current user's watchlist, use preferences or do not change watch. One of the following values: watch, unwatch, preferences, nochange Default: preferences unwatch Deprecated. Remove the page from the current user's watchlist. Type: boolean (details) oldimage The name of the old image to delete as provided by action=query&prop=imageinfo&iiprop=archivename. token A "csrf" token retrieved from action=query&meta=tokens This parameter is required. Examples: Delete Main Page. api.php?action=delete&title=Main%20Page&token=123ABC [open in sandbox] Delete Main Page with the reason Preparing for move. api.php?action=delete&title=Main%20Page&token=123ABC&reason=Preparing%20for%20move [open in sandbox]

Example

The process has four steps:

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

POST Request

api.php?action=delete&format=json&title=page%20name&token=abc [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

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

Sample code

delete.py

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    delete.py

    MediaWiki Action API Code Samples
    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"

# Step 1: 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']

# Step 2: 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"
}

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

print(DATA)

Possible errors

Code	Info
missingtitle	The page you specified doesn't exist.
notoken	The token parameter must be set.
badtoken	Invalid CSRF token.
permissiondenied	You don't have permission to delete this page. On most wikis, deleting pages is restricted to sysops, but other wikis may have stricter rules.
cantdelete	The page or file "title" could not be deleted. It may have already been deleted by someone else.

Parameter History

• 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.