Deleting buckets

--delete turns a run around: instead of creating the named buckets, s3ctl deletes them. Preview it first with --dry-run.

s3ctl --bucket app-data --delete --dry-run
s3ctl --bucket app-data --delete
s3ctl --bucket app-data --delete --force --timeout 30m

Empty buckets only, unless you say otherwise

Without --force, s3ctl lists the bucket’s current objects, object versions and delete markers, and refuses to delete it if any are there. An empty bucket is deleted straight away.

With --force, it deletes object versions and delete markers where the endpoint supports listing versions, then any remaining current objects, and finally the bucket. A large bucket can take a while, so raise --timeout from its 10 minute default.

The principal running the delete needs list, object delete, object version delete and bucket delete permissions. IAM permissions has the exact actions.

From a config file

{
  "bucket": "app-data",
  "delete_bucket": true
}

The config key is delete_bucket, not delete.

On OVHcloud

OVHcloud deletes also remove the bucket’s dedicated user and its credentials, and only go ahead when that user looks bucket-dedicated. See Bucket deletion.