IDBFactory: deleteDatabase() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The deleteDatabase() method of the IDBFactory interface requests the deletion of a database. The method returns an IDBOpenDBRequest object immediately, and performs the deletion operation asynchronously.

If the database is successfully deleted, then a success event is fired on the request object returned from this method, with its result set to undefined. If an error occurs while the database is being deleted, then an error event is fired on the request object that is returned from this method.

When deleteDatabase() is called, any other open connections to this particular database will get a versionchange event.

Syntax

js
// For the current standard:
deleteDatabase(name)

// For the experimental version with `options` (see below):
deleteDatabase(name)
deleteDatabase(name, options)

Parameters

name

The name of the database you want to delete. Note that attempting to delete a database that doesn't exist does not throw an exception, in contrast to IDBDatabase.deleteObjectStore(), which does throw an exception if the named object store does not exist.

options Optional

In Gecko, since version 26, you can include a non-standard optional storage parameter that specifies whether you want to delete a permanent (the default value) IndexedDB, or an indexedDB in temporary storage (aka shared pool.)

Return value

An IDBOpenDBRequest on which subsequent events related to this request are fired.

If the operation is successful, the value of the request's result property is null.

Examples

js
const DBDeleteRequest = window.indexedDB.deleteDatabase("toDoList");

DBDeleteRequest.onerror = (event) => {
  console.error("Error deleting database.");
};

DBDeleteRequest.onsuccess = (event) => {
  console.log("Database deleted successfully");

  console.log(event.result); // should be undefined
};

Specifications

Specification
Indexed Database API 3.0
# ref-for-dom-idbfactory-deletedatabase①

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
deleteDatabase
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 23 (Release date: 2012-11-06)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 10 (Release date: 2012-01-31)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 15 (Release date: 2013-07-02)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 8 (Release date: 2014-10-16)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 25 (Release date: 2013-02-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 22 (Release date: 2013-06-25)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 14 (Release date: 2013-05-21)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 8 (Release date: 2014-09-17)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1.5 (Release date: 2013-09-25)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 8 (Release date: 2014-09-17)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also