LDAPDELETE(1) User Commands LDAPDELETE(1)

NAME

ldapdelete - ldap delete entry tool

SYNOPSIS

ldapdelete [-n] [-v] [-c] [-d debuglevel] [-f file]
[-D bindDN] [-w passwd | -j file] [-J [:criticality]]
[-?] [-H] [-h ldaphost] [-V version] [-i locale]
[-k path] [-P path] [-N certificate] [-y proxyid]
[-p ldapport] [-O hoplimit] [-o attributename=value]
[-W password] [dn]...

DESCRIPTION

The ldapdelete utility opens a connection to an LDAP server, then binds
and deletes one or more entries. If one or more dn arguments are
provided, entries with those distinguished names are deleted. If no dn
arguments are provided, a list of DNs is read from file, if the -f option
is specified, or from standard input.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-a

Bypass confirmation question when deleting a branch.


-c

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


-d debuglevel

Sets the LDAP debugging level. Useful levels of debugging for
ldapdelete are:

1
Trace


2
Packets


4
Arguments


32
Filters


128
Access control

To request more than one category of debugging information, add the
masks. For example, to request trace and filter information, specify
a debuglevel of 33.


-D bindDN

Uses the distinguished name bindDN to bind to the directory.


-E

Ask server to expose (report) bind identity by means of
authentication response control.


-f file

Reads the entry deletion information from file instead of from
standard input.


-?

Display the usage help text that briefly describes all options.


-H

Display the usage help text that briefly describes all options.


-h ldaphost

Specifies an alternate host on which the LDAP server is running.


-i locale

Specify the character set to use for command-line input. The default
is the character set specified in the LANG environment variable. You
might want to use this option to perform the conversion from the
specified character set to UTF8, thus overriding the LANG setting.

Using this argument, you can input the bind DN and the target DNs in
the specified character set. The ldapdelete tool converts the input
from these arguments before it processes the search request. For
example, -i no indicates that the bind DN and target DNs are provided
in Norwegian.

This option affects only the command-line input. That is, if you
specify a file containing DNs (with the -f option), ldapdelete will
not convert the data in the file.


-j filename

Specify a file containing the password for the bind DN or the
password for the SSL client's key database. To protect the password,
use this option in scripts and place the password in a secure file.
This option is mutually exclusive of the -w and -W options. The -j
option is the more secure alternative between -j and -w/-W.


-J [:criticality[:value|::b64value|b64value|:fileurl]]

Criticality is a boolean value (default is false).


-k path

Specify the path to a directory containing conversion routines. These
routines are used if you want to specify a locale that is not
supported by default by your directory server. This is for NLS
support.


-M

Manage smart referrals. When they are the target of the operation,
delete the actual entry containing the referral instead of the entry
obtained by following the referral.


-n

Shows what would be done, but does not actually delete entries.
Useful in conjunction with options -v and -d for debugging.


-N certificate

Specify the certificate name to use for certificate-based client
authentication. For example: -N "Directory-Cert".


-o attributename=value

For SASL mechanisms and other options such as security properties,
mode of operation, authorization ID, authentication ID, and so forth.

The different attribute names and their values are as follows:

secProp="number"
For defining SASL security properties.


realm="value"
Specifies SASL realm (default is realm=none).


authzid="value"
Specify the authorization ID name for SASL bind.


authid="value"
Specify the authentication ID for SASL bind.


mech="value"
Specifies the various SASL mechanisms.


-O hopLimit

Specify the maximum number of referral hops to follow while finding
an entry to delete. By default, there is no limit.


-p ldapport

Specifies an alternate TCP port where the LDAP server is listening.


-P path

Specify the path and filename of the client's certificate database.
For example:

-P /home/uid/.netscape/cert7.db

When using the command on the same host as the directory server, you
can use the server's own certificate database. For example:

-P installDir/lapd-serverID/alias/cert7.db

Use the -P option alone to specify server authentication only.


-v

Uses verbose mode, with diagnostics written to standard output.


-V version

Specify the LDAP protocol version number to be used for the delete
operation, either 2 or 3. LDAP v3 is the default. Specify LDAP v2
when connecting to servers that do not support v3.


-W password

Specify the password for the client's key database given in the -P
option. This option is required for certificate-based client
authentication. Specifying password on the command line has security
issues because the password can be seen by others on the system by
means of the ps command. Use the -j instead to specify the password
from the file. This option is mutually exclusive of -j.


-w passwd

Use passwd as the password for authentication to the directory. When
you use -w passwd to specify the password to be used for
authentication, the password is visible to other users of the system
by means of the ps command, in script files or in shell history. If
you use the ldapdelete command without this option, the command will
prompt for the password and read it from standard in. When used
without the -w option, the password will not be visible to other
users.


-Y proxyid

Specify the proxy DN (proxied authorization id) to use for the delete
operation, usually in double quotes ("") for the shell.


-Z

Specify that SSL be used to provide certificate-based client
authentication. This option requires the -N and SSL password and any
other of the SSL options needed to identify the certificate and the
key database.

OPERANDS

The following operand is supported:

dn
Specifies one or several distinguished names of entries to delete.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Deleting an Entry

To delete the entry named with commonName Delete Me directly below the
XYZ Corporation organizational entry, use the following command:


example% ldapdelete -D "cn=Administrator, o=XYZ, c=US" \
"cn=Delete Me, o=XYZ, c=US"

Example 2: Deleting an Entry Using SASL Authentication

To delete the entry named with commonName "Delete Me" directly below the
XYZ Corporation organizational entry, use the following command:


example% ldapdelete -o mech=DIGEST-MD5 -o secProp=noanonymous \
-o realm=none -o authid="dn:uid=foo,o=XYZ, c=US" \
"cn=Delete Me, o=XYZ, c=US"

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(7) for a description of the following attributes:


+----------------+-----------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|Stability Level | Evolving |
+----------------+-----------------+

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
Successful completion.


Non-zero
An error occurred. A diagnostic message is written to
standard error.

SEE ALSO

ldapadd(1), ldapmodify(1), ldapmodrdn(1), ldapsearch(1),
ldap_get_option(3LDAP), ldap_set_option(3LDAP), attributes(7)

NOTES

The -M authentication option is obsolete.

January 15, 2004 LDAPDELETE(1)