Delete topic in Kafka 0.8.1.1 - apache-kafka

Question

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?

Answer 1

Deleting topic isn't always working in 0.8.1.1
Deletion should be working in the next release, 0.8.2
kafka-topics.sh --delete --zookeeper localhost:2181 --topic your_topic_name
Topic your_topic_name is marked for deletion.
Note: This will have no impact if delete.topic.enable is not set to true.
You may also pass in a bootstrap server instead of zookeeper:
kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server kafka:9092 --delete --topic your_topic_name
Is it possible to delete a topic?
Jira KAFKA-1397

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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 <your_topic_name>
#To Delete more than one topic from kafka
(good for testing purposes, where i created multiple topics & had to delete them for different scenarios)
Stop the Kafka Server and Zookeeper
go to server folder where the logs are stored (defined in their config files) and delete the kafkalogs and zookeeper folder manually
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.

Answer 6

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

Answer 7

This steps will delete all topics and data
Stop Kafka-server and Zookeeper-server
Remove the data directories of both services, by default on windows they are
C:/tmp/kafka-logs and C:/tmp/zookeeper.
then start Zookeeper-server and Kafka-server

Answer 8

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?

Answer 9

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

Answer 10

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.

Answer 11

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

Answer 12

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.

Answer 13

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

Answer 14

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

Answer 15

Step 1: Make sure you are connected to zookeeper and Kafka running
Step 2: To delele the Kafka topic run kafka-topics script, 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
bin/kafka-topics.sh --zookeeper 127.0.0.1:2181 --topic name_of_topic --delete

Answer 16

This worked for me:
kafka-topics --delete --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --topic user-commands
I am using Confluent CLI and run this on the directory I installed it.

Answer 17

Recent Kafka versions are about to remove the Zookeeper dependency. Therefore, you should instead reference the brokers (through --boostrap-server):
kafka-topics \
--bootstrap-server localhost:9092,localhost:9093,localhost:9094 \
--delete \
--topic topic_for_deletion

Answer 18

for confluent cloud use -
$ confluent kafka topic delete my_topic