# Deleting a file in elasticsearch index **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [March 14, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334 "2019-03-14T12:27:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![saqibjavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@saqibjavid](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/saqibjavid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/1 "2019-03-14T12:27:47Z")
I am unable to delete a file in the elasticsearch index using the DELETE command, as my document id is: "E:/ELK\_Stack\_6.6.0/100 files compare/parsed xml 7.6v\USA\_ENG\_10077.doc001.out". So how do I delete the document? Is there any alternate method to do so? If so please help me!!! ---
**Author:** ![HenningAndersen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/henningandersen/32/48188_2.png) [@HenningAndersen](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/HenningAndersen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/2 "2019-03-14T12:47:05Z")
I think you should be able to delete this by escaping the special characters. Something along the lines of: `curl -XDELETE 'localhost:9200/badid/type/E:%2fELK_Stack_6.6.0%2f100%20files%20compare%2fparsed%20xml%207.6v\USA_ENG_10077.doc001.out'` should do it. ---
**Author:** ![saqibjavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@saqibjavid](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/saqibjavid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/3 "2019-03-14T12:49:54Z")
Actually, I am working with windows, so how do I do it in that? ---
**Author:** ![HenningAndersen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/henningandersen/32/48188_2.png) [@HenningAndersen](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/HenningAndersen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/4 "2019-03-14T14:02:36Z")
Which tool do you normally use to interact with elasticsearch? I do not run windows but may be able to help if I know the tool. ---
**Author:** ![HenningAndersen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/henningandersen/32/48188_2.png) [@HenningAndersen](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/HenningAndersen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/5 "2019-03-14T15:00:24Z")
You can of course also do this through the kibana Dev tools console. You just have to use the % escaping, something like: ```auto DELETE badid/type/E:%2fELK_Stack_6.6.0%2f100%20files%20compare%2fparsed%20xml%207.6v%5cUSA_ENG_10077.doc001.out ``` only difference is that \ (backslash) character has also been escaped, since it seems kibana would otherwise turn that into a / (forwards slash). ---
**Author:** ![saqibjavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@saqibjavid](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/saqibjavid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 7:00am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/6 "2019-03-15T07:00:48Z")
> [@HenningAndersen](#): > > E:%2fELK\_Stack\_6.6.0%2f100%20files%20compare%2fparsed%20xml%207.6v%5cUSA\_ENG\_10077.doc001.out Thankyou very much Iwas able to delete it. ---
**Author:** ![saqibjavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@saqibjavid](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/saqibjavid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 5:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/7 "2019-03-20T05:34:28Z")
Can you please tell me what %2, %20, etc... refers? ---
**Author:** ![pjanzen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/pjanzen/32/13756_2.png) [@pjanzen](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pjanzen)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 5:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/8 "2019-03-20T05:50:18Z")
Those are html encoding characters. [Read all about them ref\_urlencode](https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.asp) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 5:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleting-a-file-in-elasticsearch-index/172334/9 "2019-04-17T05:52:17Z")
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