---
name: "borg-delete"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "borg"
version: "1.4.5-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/borg-delete"
---

# borg-delete(1)

Delete an existing repository or archives

## Name

borg-delete - Delete an existing repository or archives

## SYNOPSIS

borg \[common options\] delete \[options\] \[REPOSITORY\_OR\_ARCHIVE\] \[ARCHIVE...\]

## DESCRIPTION

This command deletes an archive from the repository or the complete repository.

Important: When deleting archives, repository disk space is **not** freed until you run **borg compact**.

When you delete a complete repository, the security info and local cache for it (if any) are also deleted. Alternatively, you can delete just the local cache with the **--cache-only** option, or keep the security info with the **--keep-security-info** option.

When in doubt, use **--dry-run --list** to see what would be deleted.

When using **--stats**, you will get some statistics about how much data was deleted - the "Deleted data" deduplicated size there is most interesting as that is how much your repository will shrink. Please note that the "All archives" stats refer to the state after deletion. **--stats** can be slow - if you want something faster, use **--quick-stats** (this skips the repository-wide "All archives" statistics). The **--stats** / **--quick-stats** and **--dry-run** options are mutually exclusive.

You can delete multiple archives by specifying a shell pattern to match multiple archives using the **--glob-archives GLOB** option (for more info on these patterns, see *borg\_patterns*).

To avoid accidentally deleting archives, especially when using glob patterns, it might be helpful to use the **--dry-run** to test out the command without actually making any changes to the repository.

## OPTIONS

See *[borg-common(1)](/borg-common/1.md)* for common options of Borg commands.

### arguments

- **REPOSITORY\_OR\_ARCHIVE**

  repository or archive to delete

- **ARCHIVE**

  archives to delete

### options

- **-n, --dry-run**

  do not change repository

- **--list**

  output verbose list of archives

- **-s, --stats**

  print statistics for the deleted archive

- **--quick-stats**

  print only deletion statistics, skipping repository-wide statistics

- **--cache-only**

  delete only the local cache for the given repository

- **--force**

  force deletion of corrupted archives, use **--force --force** in case **--force** does not work.

- **--keep-security-info**

  keep the local security info when deleting a repository

- **--save-space**

  work slower, but using less space

- **-c** *SECONDS,* **--checkpoint-interval** *SECONDS*

  write checkpoint every SECONDS seconds (Default: 1800)

### Archive filters

- **-P** *PREFIX,* **--prefix** *PREFIX*

  only consider archive names starting with this prefix. (deprecated)

- **-a** *GLOB,* **--glob-archives** *GLOB*

  only consider archive names matching the glob. sh: rules apply (without actually using the sh: prefix), see "borg help patterns".

- **--sort-by** *KEYS*

  Comma-separated list of sorting keys; valid keys are: timestamp, archive, name, id; default is: timestamp

- **--first** *N*

  consider first N archives after other filters were applied

- **--last** *N*

  consider last N archives after other filters were applied

## EXAMPLES

```
# delete a single backup archive:
$ borg delete /path/to/repo::Monday
# actually free disk space:
$ borg compact /path/to/repo
# delete all archives whose names begin with the machine's hostname followed by "-"
$ borg delete --glob-archives '{hostname}-*' /path/to/repo
# delete all archives whose names contain "-2012-"
$ borg delete --glob-archives '*-2012-*' /path/to/repo
# see what would be deleted if delete were run without --dry-run
$ borg delete --list --dry-run -a '*-May-*' /path/to/repo
# delete the whole repository and the related local cache:
$ borg delete /path/to/repo
You requested to completely DELETE the repository *including* all archives it contains:
repo                                 Mon, 2016-02-15 19:26:54
root-2016-02-15                      Mon, 2016-02-15 19:36:29
newname                              Mon, 2016-02-15 19:50:19
Type 'YES' if you understand this and want to continue: YES
```

## SEE ALSO

*[borg-common(1)](/borg-common/1.md)*, *[borg-compact(1)](/borg-compact/1.md)*

## Author

The Borg Collective