Python/v3 > Chart Studio > Deleting Plots
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Deleting Plots in Python/v3

How to delete plotly graphs in python.


Note: this page is part of the documentation for version 3 of Plotly.py, which is not the most recent version.
See our Version 4 Migration Guide for information about how to upgrade.
The version 4 version of this page is here.

New to Plotly?

Plotly's Python library is free and open source! Get started by downloading the client and reading the primer.
You can set up Plotly to work in online or offline mode, or in jupyter notebooks.
We also have a quick-reference cheatsheet (new!) to help you get started!

Imports and Credentials

In additional to importing python's requests and json packages, this tutorial also uses Plotly's REST API

First define YOUR username and api key and create auth and headers to use with requests

In [1]:
import plotly
import plotly.plotly as py

import json
import requests
from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth

username = 'private_plotly' # Replace with YOUR USERNAME
api_key = 'k0yy0ztssk' # Replace with YOUR API KEY

auth = HTTPBasicAuth(username, api_key)
headers = {'Plotly-Client-Platform': 'python'}

plotly.tools.set_credentials_file(username=username, api_key=api_key)

Trash and Restore

Create a plot and return the url to see the file id which will be used to delete the plot.

In [32]:
url = py.plot({"data": [{"x": [1, 2, 3],
                         "y": [4, 2, 4]}],
               "layout": {"title": "Let's Trash This Plot<br>(then restore it)"}},
              filename='trash example')

url
Out[32]:
u'https://plotly.com/~private_plotly/52'

Include the file id in your request.
The file id is your username:plot_id#

In [33]:
fid = username+':18'
fid
Out[33]:
'private_plotly:18'

The following request moves the plot from the organize folder into the trash.
Note: a successful trash request will return a Response [200].

In [34]:
requests.post('https://api.plot.ly/v2/files/'+fid+'/trash', auth=auth, headers=headers)
Out[34]:
<Response [200]>

Now if you visit the url, the plot won't be there.
However, at this point, there is the option to restore the plot (i.e. move it out of trash and back to the organize folder) with the following request:

PERMANENT Delete

This request CANNOT!!!!!!! be restored. Only use permanent_delete when absolutely sure the plot is no longer needed.

In [35]:
url = py.plot({"data": [{"x": [1, 2, 3],
                         "y": [3, 2, 1]}],
               "layout": {"title": "Let's Delete This Plot<br><b>FOREVER!!!!</b>"}},
              filename='PERMANENT delete ex')
url
Out[35]:
u'https://plotly.com/~private_plotly/79'
In [36]:
fid_permanent_delete = username+':79'
fid_permanent_delete
Out[36]:
'private_plotly:79'

To PERMANENTLY delete a plot, first move the plot to the trash (as seen above):

In [37]:
requests.post('https://api.plot.ly/v2/files/'+fid_permanent_delete+'/trash', auth=auth, headers=headers)
Out[37]:
<Response [200]>

Then permanent delete.
Note: a successful permanent delete request will return a Response [204] (No Content).

In [38]:
requests.delete('https://api.plot.ly/v2/files/'+fid_permanent_delete+'/permanent_delete', auth=auth, headers=headers)
Out[38]:
<Response [204]>

Delete All Plots and Grids PERMANENTLY!

In order to delete all plots and grids permanently, you need to delete all of your plots first, then delete all the associated grids.

In [ ]:
def get_pages(username, page_size):
    url = 'https://api.plot.ly/v2/folders/all?user='+username+'&page_size='+str(page_size)
    response = requests.get(url, auth=auth, headers=headers)
    if response.status_code != 200:
        return
    page = json.loads(response.content)
    yield page
    while True:
        resource = page['children']['next']
        if not resource:
            break
        response = requests.get(resource, auth=auth, headers=headers)
        if response.status_code != 200:
            break
        page = json.loads(response.content)
        yield page

def permanently_delete_files(username, page_size=500, filetype_to_delete='plot'):
    for page in get_pages(username, page_size):
        for x in range(0, len(page['children']['results'])):
            fid = page['children']['results'][x]['fid']
            res = requests.get('https://api.plot.ly/v2/files/' + fid, auth=auth, headers=headers)
            res.raise_for_status()
            if res.status_code == 200:
                json_res = json.loads(res.content)
                if json_res['filetype'] == filetype_to_delete:
                    # move to trash
                    requests.post('https://api.plot.ly/v2/files/'+fid+'/trash', auth=auth, headers=headers)
                    # permanently delete
                    requests.delete('https://api.plot.ly/v2/files/'+fid+'/permanent_delete', auth=auth, headers=headers)

permanently_delete_files(username, filetype_to_delete='plot')
permanently_delete_files(username, filetype_to_delete='grid')