[apache-kafka] Delete topic in Kafka 0.8.1.1

I need to delete the topic test in Apache Kafka 0.8.1.1.

As expressed in the documentation here, I have executed:

bin/kafka-topics.sh --zookeeper localhost:2181 --delete --topic test

However, this results in the following message:

Command must include exactly one action: --list, --describe, --create or --alter

How can I delete this topic?

Andrea is correct. we can do it using command line.

And we still can program it, by

ZkClient zkClient = new ZkClient("localhost:2181", 10000);
zkClient.deleteRecursive(ZkUtils.getTopicPath("test2"));

Actually I do not recommend you delete topic on Kafka 0.8.1.1. I can delete this topic by this method, but if you check log for zookeeper, deletion mess it up.

The command:

bin/kafka-topics.sh --delete --zookeeper localhost:2181 --topic test

unfortunately only marks topic for deletion.

Deletion does not happen.

That makes troubles, while testing any scripts, which prepares Kafka configuration.

Connected threads:

• Purge Kafka Queue
• Is there a way to delete all the data from a topic or delete the topic before every run?

You can delete a specific kafka topic (example: test) from zookeeper shell command (zookeeper-shell.sh). Use the below command to delete the topic

rmr {path of the topic}

example:

rmr /brokers/topics/test

Add below line in ${kafka_home}/config/server.properties

delete.topic.enable=true

Restart the kafka server with new config:

${kafka_home}/bin/kafka-server-start.sh ~/kafka/config/server.properties

Delete the topics you wish to:

${kafka_home}/bin/kafka-topics.sh --delete  --zookeeper localhost:2181  --topic daemon12

As mentioned in doc here

Topic deletion option is disabled by default. To enable it set the server config delete.topic.enable=true Kafka does not currently support reducing the number of partitions for a topic or changing the replication factor.

Make sure delete.topic.enable=true

It seems that the deletion command was not officially documented in Kafka 0.8.1.x because of a known bug (https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-1397).

Nevertheless, the command was still shipped in the code and can be executed as:

bin/kafka-run-class.sh kafka.admin.DeleteTopicCommand --zookeeper localhost:2181 --topic test

In the meantime, the bug got fixed and the deletion command is now officially available from Kafka 0.8.2.0 as:

bin/kafka-topics.sh --delete --zookeeper localhost:2181 --topic test

There is actually a solution without touching those bin/kafka-*.sh: If you have installed kafdrop, then simply do:

url -XPOST http://your-kafdrop-domain/topic/THE-TOPIC-YOU-WANT-TO-DELETE/delete

bin/kafka-topics.sh –delete –zookeeper localhost:2181 –topic <topic-name>

If you have issues deleting the topics, try to delete the topic using:

$KAFKA_HOME/bin/kafka-topics.sh --delete --zookeeper localhost:2181 --topic your_topic_name

command. Then in order to verify the deletion process, go to the kafka logs directory which normally is placed under /tmp/kafka-logs/, then delete the your_topic_name file via rm -rf your_topic_name command.

Remember to monitor the whole process via a kafka management tool like Kafka Tool.

The mentioned process above will remove the topics without kafka server restart.

This steps will delete all topics and data

• Stop Kafka-server and Zookeeper-server
• Remove the tmp data directories of both services, by default they are C:/tmp/kafka-logs and C:/tmp/zookeeper.
• then start Zookeeper-server and Kafka-server

Step 1: Make sure you are connected to zookeeper and Kafka running

Step 2: To delele the Kafka topic run Kafka-topic (Mac) or Kafka-topic.sh if use (linux/Mac) add the port and --topic with name of your topic and --delete it just delete the topic with success.

# Delete the kafka topic
# it will delete the kafka topic
kafka-topics --zookeeper 127.0.0.1:2181 --topic name_of_topic --delete
# or
kafka-topics.sh --zookeeper 127.0.0.1:2181 --topic name_of_topic --delete

Steps to Delete 1 or more Topics in Kafka

To delete topics in kafka the delete option needs to be enabled in Kafka server.

1. Go to {kafka_home}/config/server.properties
2. Uncomment delete.topic.enable=true

Delete one Topic in Kafka enter the following command

kafka-topics.sh --delete --zookeeper localhost:2181 --topic

To Delete more than one topic from kafka

(good for testing purposes, where i created multiple topics & had to delete them for different scenarios)

1. Stop the Kafka Server and Zookeeper
2. go to /tmp folder where the logs are stored and delete the kafkalogs and zookeeper folder manually
3. Restart the zookeeper and kafka server and try to list topics,

bin/kafka-topics.sh --list --zookeeper localhost:2181

if no topics are listed then the all topics have been deleted successfully.If topics are listed, then the delete was not successful. Try the above steps again or restart your computer.

Adding to above answers one has to delete the meta data associated with that topic in zookeeper consumer offset path.

bin/zookeeper-shell.sh zookeeperhost:port

rmr /consumers/<sample-consumer-1>/offsets/<deleted-topic>

Otherwise the lag will be negative in kafka-monitoring tools based on zookeeper.

First, you run this command to delete your topic:

$ bin/kafka-topics.sh --delete --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --topic <topic_name>

List active topics to check delete completely:

$ bin/kafka-topics.sh --list --bootstrap-server localhost:9092