# How to delete all the elasticsearch indices, that start with a certain string, based on date ranges
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [September 1, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063 "2021-09-01T15:16:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JaswantG](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/JaswantG)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/1 "2021-09-01T15:16:01Z")
I am using elasticsearch 2.2.0. I have a requirement wherein I have to delete certain indices, which are created on a day-to-day basis, based on two different dates.
(format - **abc-xyz-yyyy-mm-dd** )
For e.g. - There are 100 indices which are created between 2021-01-01 and 2021-04-10. How do I delete the indices that were created between 2021-02-01 and 2021-02-21? I should only delete the indices that begin with abc-xyz.
Can anyone help me on this? I am relatively new to ES.
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2021, 10:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/2 "2021-09-01T22:04:55Z")
Elasticsearch Curator might be able to this for you - [Curator Reference [8.0] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/client/curator/current/index.html).
> [@JaswantG](#):
>
> I am using elasticsearch 2.2.0
You should really upgrade, urgently.
2.X has been [EOL](https://www.elastic.co/support/eol) for quite a long, long time, and latest is 7.14.
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### Author:  [@JaswantG](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/JaswantG)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2021, 5:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/3 "2021-09-02T05:18:44Z")
Is there any way to delete the indices for my requirement using the delete API?
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2021, 5:27am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/4 "2021-09-02T05:27:01Z")
Only if you want to do something like `curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XDELETE 0:9200/abc-xyz-2021-02-*`.
Otherwise just whip up a bash for loop with a counter to cover the range you need.
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### Author:  [@JaswantG](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/JaswantG)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2021, 5:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/5 "2021-09-02T05:53:00Z")
Thanks Mark, I used the for loop procedure and it worked, but is there any way to check if an index exists and only then delete it in the for loop?
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2021, 5:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/6 "2021-09-02T05:53:53Z")
If you script that yourself, yes.
But if a specific index doesn't exist it cannot be deleted and Elasticsearch will reject the request.
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### Author:  [@JaswantG](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/JaswantG)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2021, 5:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/7 "2021-09-02T05:55:04Z")
could you please tell me how to check if an index exists?
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2021, 6:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/8 "2021-09-02T06:03:05Z")
[Exists API | Elasticsearch Guide [7.14] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.14/indices-exists.html) is the best.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2021, 6:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-delete-all-the-elasticsearch-indices-that-start-with-a-certain-string-based-on-date-ranges/283063/9 "2021-09-30T06:03:45Z")
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