Delete and restore a blob with JavaScript

  • Article

This article shows how to delete blobs with the Azure Storage client library for JavaScript, and how to restore soft-deleted blobs during the retention period.

Prerequisites

  • The examples in this article assume you already have a project set up to work with the Azure Blob Storage client library for JavaScript. To learn about setting up your project, including package installation, importing modules, and creating an authorized client object to work with data resources, see Get started with Azure Blob Storage and JavaScript.
  • The authorization mechanism must have permissions to delete a blob, or to restore a soft-deleted blob. To learn more, see the authorization guidance for the following REST API operations:

Delete a blob

Note

When blob soft delete is enabled for a storage account, you can't perform a permanent deletion using client library methods. Using the methods in this article, a soft-deleted blob, blob version, or snapshot remains available until the retention period expires, at which time it's permanently deleted. To learn more about the underlying REST API operation, see Delete Blob (REST API).

To delete a blob, create a BlobClient then call either of these methods:

The following example deletes a blob.

async function deleteBlob(containerClient, blobName){

  // include: Delete the base blob and all of its snapshots.
  // only: Delete only the blob's snapshots and not the blob itself.
  const options = {
    deleteSnapshots: 'include' // or 'only'
  }

  // Create blob client from container client
  const blockBlobClient = await containerClient.getBlockBlobClient(blobName);

  await blockBlobClient.delete(options);

  console.log(`deleted blob ${blobName}`);

}

The following example deletes a blob if it exists.

async function deleteBlobIfItExists(containerClient, blobName){

  // include: Delete the base blob and all of its snapshots.
  // only: Delete only the blob's snapshots and not the blob itself.
  const options = {
    deleteSnapshots: 'include' // or 'only'
  }

  // Create blob client from container client
  const blockBlobClient = await containerClient.getBlockBlobClient(blobName);

  await blockBlobClient.deleteIfExists(options);

  console.log(`deleted blob ${blobName}`);

}

Restore a deleted blob

Blob soft delete protects an individual blob and its versions, snapshots, and metadata from accidental deletes or overwrites by maintaining the deleted data in the system for a specified period of time. During the retention period, you can restore the blob to its state at deletion. After the retention period has expired, the blob is permanently deleted. For more information about blob soft delete, see Soft delete for blobs.

You can use the Azure Storage client libraries to restore a soft-deleted blob or snapshot.

Restore soft-deleted objects when versioning is disabled

To restore deleted blobs, create a BlobClient then call the following method:

This method restores soft-deleted blobs and any deleted snapshots associated with it. Calling this method for a blob that has not been deleted has no effect.

async function undeleteBlob(containerClient, blobName){

  // Create blob client from container client
  const blockBlobClient = await containerClient.getBlockBlobClient(blobName);

  await blockBlobClient.undelete();

  console.log(`undeleted blob ${blobName}`);

}

Resources

To learn more about how to delete blobs and restore deleted blobs using the Azure Blob Storage client library for JavaScript, see the following resources.

REST API operations

The Azure SDK for JavaScript contains libraries that build on top of the Azure REST API, allowing you to interact with REST API operations through familiar JavaScript paradigms. The client library methods for deleting blobs and restoring deleted blobs use the following REST API operations:

Code samples

Client library resources

See also