API:Delete

From mediawiki.org

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

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.

Specific parameters:
Other general parameters are available.
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): convenient-discussions, possible vandalism, repeating characters
deletetalk

Delete the talk page, if it exists.

Type: boolean (details)
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 (ignored for bot users) or do not change watch.

One of the following values: nochange, preferences, unwatch, watch
Default: preferences
watchlistexpiry

Watchlist expiry timestamp. Omit this parameter entirely to leave the current expiry unchanged.

Type: expiry (details)
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.

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


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
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 different rules.
cantdelete The 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