API:Delete
 | This page is part of the MediaWiki Action API documentation. |
POST request to delete a page. Pages can be undeleted with the API:Undelete method.
| MediaWiki version: | ≥ 1.12 |
API documentation
Example
The process has four steps:
- Fetch login token from API:Tokens.
- Send a POST request with the fetched login token and user information to the API.
- Retrieve a CSRF token when logged in.
- 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.phpas the endpoint, so that you don't accidentally delete pages on production wikis. - In addition to the
deleteright, 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.