.TH LDAPDELETE 1 "RELEASEDATE" "OpenLDAP LDVERSION"
.\" $OpenLDAP$
.\" Copyright 1998-2006 The OpenLDAP Foundation All Rights Reserved.
.\" Copying restrictions apply.  See COPYRIGHT/LICENSE.
.SH NAME
ldapdelete \- LDAP delete entry tool
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ldapdelete
[\c
.BR \-n ]
[\c
.BR \-v ]
[\c
.BR \-c ]
[\c
.BR \-M[M] ]
[\c
.BI \-d \ debuglevel\fR]
[\c
.BI \-f \ file\fR]
[\c
.BI \-D \ binddn\fR]
[\c
.BR \-W ]
[\c
.BI \-w \ passwd\fR]
[\c
.BI \-y \ passwdfile\fR]
[\c
.BI \-H \ ldapuri\fR]
[\c
.BI \-h \ ldaphost\fR]
[\c
.BI \-P \ 2\fR\||\|\fI3\fR]
[\c
.BI \-p \ ldapport\fR]
[\c
.BR \-O \ security-properties ]
[\c
.BI \-U \ authcid\fR]
[\c
.BI \-R \ realm\fR]
[\c
.BR \-r ]
[\c
.BR \-x ]
[\c
.BR \-I ]
[\c
.BR \-Q ]
[\c
.BI \-X \ authzid\fR]
[\c
.BI \-Y \ mech\fR]
[\c
.BR \-Z[Z] ]
[\c
.IR dn ]...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I ldapdelete
is a shell-accessible interface to the
.BR ldap_delete (3)
library call.
.LP
.B ldapdelete
opens a connection to an LDAP server, binds, and deletes one or more
entries.  If one or more \fIDN\fP arguments are provided, entries with
those Distinguished Names are deleted.  Each \fIDN\fP should be provided
using the LDAPv3 string representation as defined in RFC 2253.
If no \fIdn\fP arguments
are provided, a list of DNs is read from standard input (or from
\fIfile\fP if the -f flag is used).
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-n
Show what would be done, but don't actually delete entries.  Useful for
debugging in conjunction with -v.
.TP
.B \-v
Use verbose mode, with many diagnostics written to standard output.
.TP
.B \-c
Continuous operation mode.  Errors  are  reported,  but
.B ldapdelete
will  continue  with  deletions.   The default is to exit after
reporting an error.
.TP
.B \-M[M]
Enable manage DSA IT control.
.B \-MM
makes control critical.
.TP
.BI \-d \ debuglevel
Set the LDAP debugging level to \fIdebuglevel\fP.
.B ldapdelete
must be compiled with LDAP_DEBUG defined for this option to have any effect.
.TP
.BI \-f \ file
Read a series of DNs from \fIfile\fP, one per line, performing an
LDAP delete for each.
.TP
.B \-x 
Use simple authentication instead of SASL.
.TP
.BI \-D \ binddn
Use the Distinguished Name \fIbinddn\fP to bind to the LDAP directory.
.TP
.B \-W
Prompt for simple authentication.
This is used instead of specifying the password on the command line.
.TP
.BI \-w \ passwd
Use \fIpasswd\fP as the password for simple authentication.
.TP
.BI \-y \ passwdfile
Use complete contents of \fIpasswdfile\fP as the password for
simple authentication.
.TP
.BI \-H \ ldapuri
Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s); only the protocol/host/port
fields are allowed; a list of URI, separated by whitespace or commas
is expected.
.TP
.BI \-h \ ldaphost
Specify an alternate host on which the ldap server is running.
Deprecated in favor of -H.
.TP
.BI \-p \ ldapport
Specify an alternate TCP port where the ldap server is listening.
Deprecated in favor of -H.
.TP
.BI \-P \ 2\fR\||\|\fI3
Specify the LDAP protocol version to use.
.TP
.B \-r
Do a recursive delete.  If the DN specified isn't a leaf, its
children, and all their children are deleted down the tree.  No
verification is done, so if you add this switch, ldapdelete will
happily delete large portions of your tree.  Use with care.
.TP
.BI \-O \ security-properties
Specify SASL security properties.
.TP
.B \-I
Enable SASL Interactive mode.  Always prompt.  Default is to prompt
only as needed.
.TP
.B \-Q
Enable SASL Quiet mode.  Never prompt.
.TP
.BI \-U \ authcid
Specify the authentication ID for SASL bind. The form of the identity depends on the
actual SASL mechanism used.
.TP
.BI \-R \ realm
Specify the realm of authentication ID for SASL bind. The form of the realm
depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
.TP
.BI \-X \ authzid
Specify the requested authorization ID for SASL bind.
.I authzid
must be one of the following formats:
.B dn:\c
.I <distinguished name>
or
.B u:\c
.I <username>
.TP
.BI \-Y \ mech
Specify the SASL mechanism to be used for authentication. If it's not
specified, the program will choose the best mechanism the server knows.
.TP
.B \-Z[Z]
Issue StartTLS (Transport Layer Security) extended operation. If you use
.B \-ZZ\c
, the command will require the operation to be successful.
.SH EXAMPLE
The following command:
.LP
.nf
    ldapdelete "cn=Delete Me,dc=example,dc=com"
.fi
.LP
will attempt to delete the entry named "cn=Delete Me,dc=example,dc=com".
Of course it would probably be necessary to supply authentication
credentials.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
Exit status is 0 if no errors occur.  Errors result in a non-zero exit
status and a diagnostic message being written to standard error.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR ldap.conf (5),
.BR ldapadd (1),
.BR ldapmodify (1),
.BR ldapmodrdn (1),
.BR ldapsearch (1),
.BR ldap (3),
.BR ldap_delete (3)
.SH AUTHOR
The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>
.SH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
.B OpenLDAP
is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project (http://www.openldap.org/).
.B OpenLDAP
is derived from University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.