LDAPDELETE(1)                                       LDAPDELETE(1)



NAME
       ldapdelete - LDAP delete entry tool

SYNOPSIS
       ldapdelete [-n] [-v] [-k] [-K] [-c] [-C] [-M[M]] [-d debu-
       glevel] [-f file] [-D binddn]  [-W]  [-w passwd]  [-H lda-
       puri]  [-h ldaphost]  [-P 2|3] [-p ldapport] [-O security-
       properties]  [-U authcid]  [-x]  [-I]  [-Q]   [-X authzid]
       [-Y mech] [-Z[Z]] [dn]...

DESCRIPTION
       ldapdelete   is   a   shell-accessible  interface  to  the
       ldap_delete(3) library call.

       ldapdelete opens a connection to an  LDAP  server,  binds,
       and  deletes one or more entries.  If one or more DN argu-
       ments are provided, entries with those Distinguished Names
       are  deleted.  Each DN should be provided using the LDAPv3
       string representation as defined in RFC 2253.   If  no  dn
       arguments  are  provided, a list of DNs is read from stan-
       dard input (or from file if the -f flag is used).

OPTIONS
       -n     Show what would be done, but don't actually  delete
              entries.   Useful for debugging in conjunction with
              -v.

       -v     Use verbose mode, with many diagnostics written  to
              standard output.

       -k     Use  Kerberos  IV  authentication instead of simple
              authentication.  It is  assumed  that  you  already
              have  a  valid  ticket granting ticket. This option
              only has effect if ldapdelete is compiled with Ker-
              beros support.

       -K     Same as -k, but only does step 1 of the Kerberos IV
              bind.  This is useful when connecting  to  a  slapd
              and  there  is no x500dsa.hostname principal regis-
              tered with your Kerberos Domain Controller(s).

       -C     Automatically chase referrals.

       -c     Continuous operation mode.  Errors  are   reported,
              but  ldapdelete  will   continue   with  deletions.
              The default is to exit after reporting an error.

       -M[M]  Enable manage DSA IT control.   -MM  makes  control
              critical.

       -d debuglevel
              Set   the   LDAP  debugging  level  to  debuglevel.
              ldapdelete must be compiled with LDAP_DEBUG defined
              for this option to have any effect.

       -f file
              Read  a  series  of lines from file, performing one
              LDAP search for each line.  In this case, the  fil-
              ter  given on the command line is treated as a pat-
              tern where the first occurrence of %s  is  replaced
              with a line from file.

       -x     Use simple authentication instead of SASL.

       -D binddn
              Use  the  Distinguished  Name binddn to bind to the
              LDAP directory.

       -W     Prompt for simple  authentication.   This  is  used
              instead  of  specifying the password on the command
              line.

       -w passwd
              Use passwd as the password for  simple  authentica-
              tion.

       -H ldapuri
              Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s).

       -h ldaphost
              Specify  an alternate host on which the ldap server
              is running.  Deprecated in favor of -H.

       -p ldapport
              Specify an alternate TCP port where the ldap server
              is listening.  Deprecated in favor of -H.

       -P 2|3 Specify the LDAP protocol version to use.

       -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.

       -O security-properties
              Specify SASL security properties.

       -I     Enable  SASL  Interactive  mode.   Always   prompt.
              Default is to prompt only as needed.

       -Q     Enable SASL Quiet mode.  Never prompt.

       -U authcid
              Specify  the  authentication  ID for SASL bind. The
              form of the identity depends  on  the  actual  SASL
              mechanism used.

       -X authzid
              Specify  the  requested  authorization  ID for SASL
              bind.  authzid must be one of  the  following  for-
              mats: dn:<distinguished name> or u:<username>

       -Y mech
              Specify the SASL mechanism to be used for authenti-
              cation. If it's not  specified,  the  program  will
              choose the best mechanism the server knows.

       -Z[Z]  Issue  StartTLS (Transport Layer Security) extended
              operation. If you use -ZZ, the command will require
              the operation to be successful.

EXAMPLE
       The following command:

           ldapdelete "cn=Delete Me,dc=example,dc=com"

       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.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Exit  status  is 0 if no errors occur.  Errors result in a
       non-zero exit status and a diagnostic message being  writ-
       ten to standard error.

SEE ALSO
       ldap.conf(5),  ldapadd(1),  ldapmodify(1),  ldapmodrdn(1),
       ldapsearch(1), ldap(3), ldap_delete(3)

AUTHOR
       The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       OpenLDAP is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP  Pro-
       ject (http://www.openldap.org/).  OpenLDAP is derived from
       University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.



OpenLDAP 2.1.X            20 August 2001            LDAPDELETE(1)