How can I delete folder on s3 with node.js?

Yes, I know. There is no folder concept on s3 storage. but I really want to delete a specific folder from s3 with node.js. I tried two solutions, but both didn't work. My code is below: Solution 1: Deleting folder directly.

var key='level/folder1/folder2/';
var strReturn;
		var params = {Bucket: MyBucket};
		var s3 = new AWS.S3(params);
		s3.client.listObjects({
	        Bucket: MyBucket,
	        Key: key
	    }, function (err, data) {
	    	if(err){
	    		strReturn="{\"status\":\"1\"}";
	    		
	    	}else{
	    		strReturn=+"{\"status\":\"0\"}";
	    	}
	    	res.send(returnJson);
	    	console.log('error:'+err+' data:'+JSON.stringify(data));
	    });

Actually, I have a lot of files under folder2. I can delete single file from folder2 if I define key like this: var key='level/folder1/folder2/file1.txt', but it didn't work when I deleted a folder(key='level/folder1/folder2/'). Solution 2: I tried to set expiration to an object when I uploaded this file or folder to s3. code is below:

s3.client.putObject({
		        Bucket: Camera_Bucket,
		        Key: key,
                            ACL:'public-read', 
		        Expires: 60 
		    }

But it didn't either. After finishing uploading, I checked the properties of that file. it showed there was nothing value for expiry date:

Expiry Date:none
Expiration Rule:N/A

How can I delete folder on s3 with node.js?

Here is an implementation in ES7 with an async function and using listObjectsV2 (the revised List Objects API):

async function emptyS3Directory(bucket, dir) {
	const listParams = {
		Bucket: bucket,
		Prefix: dir
	};

	const listedObjects = await s3.listObjectsV2(listParams).promise();

	if (listedObjects.Contents.length === 0) return;

	const deleteParams = {
		Bucket: bucket,
		Delete: { Objects: [] }
	};

	listedObjects.Contents.forEach(({ Key }) => {
		deleteParams.Delete.Objects.push({ Key });
	});

    await s3.deleteObjects(deleteParams).promise();

    if (listedObjects.IsTruncated) await emptyS3Directory(bucket, dir);
}

To call it:

await emptyS3Directory(process.env.S3_BUCKET, 'images/')

You can use aws-sdk module for deleting folder. Because you can only delete a folder when it is empty, you should first delete the files in it. I'm doing it like this :

function emptyBucket(bucketName,callback){
  var params = {
    Bucket: bucketName,
    Prefix: 'folder/'
  };

  s3.listObjects(params, function(err, data) {
    if (err) return callback(err);

    if (data.Contents.length == 0) callback();

    params = {Bucket: bucketName};
    params.Delete = {Objects:[]};
    
    data.Contents.forEach(function(content) {
      params.Delete.Objects.push({Key: content.Key});
    });

    s3.deleteObjects(params, function(err, data) {
      if (err) return callback(err);
      if (data.IsTruncated) {
        emptyBucket(bucketName, callback);
      } else {
        callback();
      }
    });
  });
}

According to accepted answer I created promise returned function, so you can chain it.

function emptyBucket(bucketName){
    let currentData;
    let params = {
	    Bucket: bucketName,
	    Prefix: 'folder/'
    };

    return S3.listObjects(params).promise().then(data => {
	    if (data.Contents.length === 0) {
		    throw new Error('List of objects empty.');
	    }

	    currentData = data;

	    params = {Bucket: bucketName};
	    params.Delete = {Objects:[]};

	    currentData.Contents.forEach(content => {
		    params.Delete.Objects.push({Key: content.Key});
	    });

	    return S3.deleteObjects(params).promise();
    }).then(() => {
	    if (currentData.Contents.length === 1000) {
		    emptyBucket(bucketName, callback);
	    } else {
		    return true;
	    }
    });
}

listObjectsV2 list files only with current dir Prefix not with subfolder Prefix. If you want to delete folder with subfolders recursively this is the source code: https://github.com/tagspaces/tagspaces-common/blob/master/common-aws/io-objectstore.js#L826

  deleteDirectoryPromise = async (path: string): Promise<Object> => {
    const prefixes = await this.getDirectoryPrefixes(path);

    if (prefixes.length > 0) {
      const deleteParams = {
        Bucket: this.config.bucketName,
        Delete: { Objects: prefixes }
      };

      return this.objectStore.deleteObjects(deleteParams).promise();
    }
    return this.objectStore
      .deleteObject({
        Bucket: this.config.bucketName,
        Key: path
      })
      .promise();
  };

  /**
   * get recursively all aws directory prefixes
   * @param path
   */
  getDirectoryPrefixes = async (path: string): Promise<any[]> => {
    const prefixes = [];
    const promises = [];
    const listParams = {
      Bucket: this.config.bucketName,
      Prefix: path,
      Delimiter: '/'
    };
    const listedObjects = await this.objectStore
      .listObjectsV2(listParams)
      .promise();

    if (
      listedObjects.Contents.length > 0 ||
      listedObjects.CommonPrefixes.length > 0
    ) {
      listedObjects.Contents.forEach(({ Key }) => {
        prefixes.push({ Key });
      });

      listedObjects.CommonPrefixes.forEach(({ Prefix }) => {
        prefixes.push({ Key: Prefix });
        promises.push(this.getDirectoryPrefixes(Prefix));
      });
      // if (listedObjects.IsTruncated) await this.deleteDirectoryPromise(path);
    }
    const subPrefixes = await Promise.all(promises);
    subPrefixes.map(arrPrefixes => {
      arrPrefixes.map(prefix => {
        prefixes.push(prefix);
      });
    });
    return prefixes;
  };

A much simpler way is to fetch all objects (keys) at that path & delete them. In each call fetch 1000 keys & s3 deleteObjects can delete 1000 keys in each request too. Do that recursively to achieve the goal

> Written in typescript

/**
     * delete a folder recursively
     * @param bucket
     * @param path - without end /
     */
    deleteFolder(bucket: string, path: string) {
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
            // get all keys and delete objects
            const getAndDelete = (ct: string = null) => {
                this.s3
                    .listObjectsV2({
                        Bucket: bucket,
                        MaxKeys: 1000,
                        ContinuationToken: ct,
                        Prefix: path + "/",
                        Delimiter: "",
                    })
                    .promise()
                    .then(async (data) => {
                        // params for delete operation
                        let params = {
                            Bucket: bucket,
                            Delete: { Objects: [] },
                        };
                        // add keys to Delete Object
                        data.Contents.forEach((content) => {
                            params.Delete.Objects.push({ Key: content.Key });
                        });
                        // delete all keys
                        await this.s3.deleteObjects(params).promise();
                        // check if ct is present
                        if (data.NextContinuationToken) getAndDelete(data.NextContinuationToken);
                        else resolve(true);
                    })
                    .catch((err) => reject(err));
            };

            // init call
            getAndDelete();
        });
    }

According to Emi's answer I made a npm package so you don' t need to write the code yourself. Also the code is written in typescript.

See https://github.com/bingtimren/s3-commons/blob/master/src/lib/deleteRecursive.ts

You can try this:

import { s3DeleteDir } from '@zvs001/s3-utils'
import { S3 } from 'aws-sdk'

const s3Client = new S3() 

await s3DeleteDir(s3Client, {
  Bucket: 'my-bucket',
  Prefix: `folder/`,
})

The accepted answer throws an error when used in typescript, and it is do Objects array in deleteParams. I made it work by modifying the code in the following way. I'm very new to Typescript but at least it is working now.

 async function emptyS3Directory(prefix: string) {
  const listParams = {
    Bucket: "bucketName",
    Prefix: prefix, // ex. path/to/folder
  };

  const listedObjects = await s3.listObjectsV2(listParams).promise();

  if (listedObjects.Contents.length === 0) return;

  const deleteParams = {
    Bucket: bucketName,
    Delete: { Objects: [] as any },
  };

  listedObjects.Contents.forEach((content: any) => {
    deleteParams.Delete.Objects.push({ Key: content.Key });
  });

  await s3.deleteObjects(deleteParams).promise();

  if (listedObjects.IsTruncated) await emptyS3Directory(prefix);
}

I like the list objects and then delete approach, which is what the aws cmd line does behind the scenes btw. But I didn't want to await the list (few seconds) before deleting them. So I use this 1 step (background) process, I found it slightly faster. You can await the child process if you really want to confirm deletion, but I found that took around 10 seconds, so I don't bother I just fire and forget and check logs instead. The entire API call with other stuff now takes 1.5s which is fine for my situation.

var CHILD = require("child_process").exec;
function removeImagesAndTheFolder(folder_name_str, callback){
    		
    		var cmd_str = "aws s3 rm s3://" 
    				+ IMAGE_BUCKET_STR 
    				+ "/" + folder_name_str
    				+ "/ --recursive";
    
    		if(process.env.NODE_ENV === "development"){
    			//When not on an EC2 with a role I use my profile    
    			cmd_str += " " + "--profile " + LOCAL_CONFIG.PROFILE_STR;
    		}
    		// In my situation I return early for the user. You could make them wait tho'.
    		callback(null, {"msg_str": "Check later that these images were actually removed."});
    		//do not return yet still stuff to do	
    		CHILD(cmd_str, function(error, stdout, stderr){
    			if(error || stderr){
    				console.log("Problem removing this folder with a child process:" + stderr);
    			}else{
    				console.log("Child process completed, here are the results", stdout);
    			}
    		});
    	}

You can delete an empty folder the same way you delete a file. In order to delete a non-empty folder on AWS S3, you'll need to empty it first by deleting all files and folders inside. Once the folder is empty, you can delete it as a regular file. The same applies to the bucket deletion. We've implemented it in this app called Commandeer so you can do it from a GUI.