NAME

       borg-delete - Delete archives

SYNOPSIS

       borg [common options] delete [options] [NAME]

DESCRIPTION

       This command soft-deletes archives from the repository.

       Important:

       • The delete command will only mark archives for deletion ("soft-deletion"), repository disk space is not
         freed until you run borg compact.

       • You can use borg undelete to undelete archives, but only until you run borg compact.

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

       You  can  delete  multiple  archives by specifying a matching pattern, using the --match-archives PATTERN
       option (for more info on these patterns, see borg_patterns).

OPTIONS

       See borg-common(1) for common options of Borg commands.

   arguments
       NAME   specify the archive name

   options
       -n, --dry-run
              do not change repository

       --list output verbose list of archives

   Archive filters
       -a PATTERN, --match-archives PATTERN
              only consider archives matching all patterns. see "borg help match-archives".

       --sort-by KEYS
              Comma-separated list of sorting keys; valid keys are: timestamp, archive, name,  id,  tags,  host,
              user; 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

       --oldest TIMESPAN
              consider archives between the oldest archive's timestamp and (oldest + TIMESPAN), e.g. 7d or 12m.

       --newest TIMESPAN
              consider archives between the newest archive's timestamp and (newest - TIMESPAN), e.g. 7d or 12m.

       --older TIMESPAN
              consider archives older than (now - TIMESPAN), e.g. 7d or 12m.

       --newer TIMESPAN
              consider archives newer than (now - TIMESPAN), e.g. 7d or 12m.

EXAMPLES

          # delete all backup archives named "kenny-files":
          $ borg delete -a kenny-files
          # actually free disk space:
          $ borg compact

          # delete a specific backup archive using its unique archive ID prefix
          $ borg delete aid:d34db33f

          # delete all archives whose names begin with the machine's hostname followed by "-"
          $ borg delete -a 'sh:{hostname}-*'

          # delete all archives whose names contain "-2012-"
          $ borg delete -a 'sh:*-2012-*'

          # see what would be deleted if delete was run without --dry-run
          $ borg delete --list --dry-run -a 'sh:*-May-*'

SEE ALSO

       borg-common(1), borg-compact(1), borg-repo-delete(1)

AUTHOR

       The Borg Collective

                                                   2025-08-04                                     BORG-DELETE(1)