Deleting AWS S3 Bucket Objects, Versions, and Delete Markers

Posted on 16-Aug-2023

In this tutorial, you will learn how to delete objects, object versions, and delete markers from an AWS S3 bucket using the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) and the Python boto3 library. We will cover both methods to give you a comprehensive understanding of the process.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

An AWS account with appropriate permissions to delete objects, versions, and delete markers within the desired S3 bucket.
AWS CLI installed and configured with necessary credentials.
Python installed on your system.
boto3 library installed. You can install it using the following command:

pip install boto3

Method 1: Using AWS CLI

Step 1: Delete Objects

To delete objects from an S3 bucket using the AWS CLI, you can use the following command:

aws s3 rm s3://your-bucket-name --recursive

Replace your-bucket-name with the actual name of your S3 bucket.

Step 2: Delete Object Versions and Delete Markers

To delete object versions and delete markers, you need to use the AWS CLI in combination with the --version-id option. Here's the command to delete a specific version of an object:

aws s3api delete-object \
--bucket your-bucket-name \
--key your-object-key \
--version-id your-version-id

Replace your-bucket-name, your-object-key, and your-version-id with the actual values.

Method 2: Using Python and boto3

Step 1: Install boto3

If you haven't installed the boto3 library yet, install it as mentioned in the prerequisites.

Step 2: Delete Objects

Here's an example Python script to delete objects from an S3 bucket using boto3:

import boto3

bucket_name = 'your-bucket-name'
prefix = 'path/to/objects/'  # Delete objects with this prefix

s3 = boto3.client('s3')
response = s3.list_objects_v2(Bucket=bucket_name, Prefix=prefix)

if 'Contents' in response:
    objects_to_delete = [{'Key': obj['Key']} for obj in response['Contents']]
    s3.delete_objects(Bucket=bucket_name, Delete={'Objects': objects_to_delete})

Replace your-bucket-name and path/to/objects/ with your actual bucket name and object prefix.

Step 3: Delete Object Versions and Delete Markers

To delete object versions and delete markers, you can use the following boto3 script:

import boto3

bucket_name = 'your-bucket-name'
object_key = 'your-object-key'
version_id = 'your-version-id'

s3 = boto3.client('s3')
s3.delete_object(Bucket=bucket_name, Key=object_key, VersionId=version_id)

Replace your-bucket-name, your-object-key, and your-version-id with the actual values.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to delete objects, object versions, and delete markers from an AWS S3 bucket using both the AWS CLI and the Python boto3 library. Depending on your preference and use case, you can choose either method to manage your S3 bucket content efficiently. Always exercise caution when performing deletion operations, as they are irreversible.

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