CRUD - Delete - Swift SDK

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Delete Realm Objects

About The Examples On This Page
Delete an Object
Delete Multiple Objects
Delete an Object and Its Related Objects
Delete All Objects of a Specific Type
Delete All Objects in a Realm
Delete Map Keys/Values
Delete MutableSet Elements
Delete the Value of an AnyRealmValue
Delete an Object Asynchronously

Atlas Device SDKs are deprecated. Refer to the deprecation page for details.

Delete Realm Objects

Deleting Realm Objects must occur within write transactions. For more information about write trasactions, see: Transactions.

If you want to delete the Realm file itself, see: Delete a Realm.

Important

Do not use objects after delete

You cannot access or modify an object after you have deleted it from a realm. If you try to use a deleted object, Realm throws an error.

About The Examples On This Page

The examples on this page use the following models:

// DogToy.h
@interface DogToy : RLMObject
@property NSString *name;
@end
// Dog.h
@interface Dog : RLMObject
@property NSString *name;
@property int age;
@property NSString *color;
// To-one relationship
@property DogToy *favoriteToy;
@end
// Enable Dog for use in RLMArray
RLM_COLLECTION_TYPE(Dog)
// Person.h
// A person has a primary key ID, a collection of dogs, and can be a member of multiple clubs.
@interface Person : RLMObject
@property int _id;
@property NSString *name;
// To-many relationship - a person can have many dogs
@property RLMArray<Dog *><Dog> *dogs;
// Inverse relationship - a person can be a member of many clubs
@property (readonly) RLMLinkingObjects *clubs;
@end
RLM_COLLECTION_TYPE(Person)
// DogClub.h
@interface DogClub : RLMObject
@property NSString *name;
@property RLMArray<Person *><Person> *members;
@end
// Dog.m
@implementation Dog
@end
// DogToy.m
@implementation DogToy
@end
// Person.m
@implementation Person
// Define the primary key for the class
+ (NSString *)primaryKey {
    return @"_id";
}
// Define the inverse relationship to dog clubs
+ (NSDictionary *)linkingObjectsProperties {
    return @{
        @"clubs": [RLMPropertyDescriptor descriptorWithClass:DogClub.class propertyName:@"members"],
    };
}
@end
// DogClub.m
@implementation DogClub
@end

class Dog: Object {
    @Persisted var name = ""
    @Persisted var age = 0
    @Persisted var color = ""
    @Persisted var currentCity = ""
    @Persisted var citiesVisited: MutableSet<String>
    @Persisted var companion: AnyRealmValue
    // Map of city name -> favorite park in that city
    @Persisted var favoriteParksByCity: Map<String, String>
}

Delete an Object

To delete an object from a realm, pass the object to -[RLMRealm deleteObject:] inside of a write transaction.

[realm transactionWithBlock:^() {
    // Delete the instance from the realm.
    [realm deleteObject:dog];
}];

To delete an object from a realm, pass the object to Realm.delete(_:) inside of a write transaction.

// Previously, we've added a dog object to the realm.
let dog = Dog(value: ["name": "Max", "age": 5])
let realm = try! Realm()
try! realm.write {
    realm.add(dog)
}
// Delete the instance from the realm.
try! realm.write {
    realm.delete(dog)
}

Delete Multiple Objects

New in version 10.19.0.

To delete a collection of objects from a realm, pass the collection to Realm.delete(_:) inside of a write transaction.

let realm = try! Realm()
try! realm.write {
    // Find dogs younger than 2 years old.
    let puppies = realm.objects(Dog.self).where {
        $0.age < 2
    }
    // Delete the objects in the collection from the realm.
    realm.delete(puppies)
}

To delete a collection of objects from a realm, pass the collection to Realm.delete(_:) inside of a write transaction.

let realm = try! Realm()
try! realm.write {
    // Find dogs younger than 2 years old.
    let puppies = realm.objects(Dog.self).filter("age < 2")
    // Delete the objects in the collection from the realm.
    realm.delete(puppies)
}

To delete a collection of objects from a realm, pass the collection to -[Realm deleteObjects:] inside of a write transaction.

RLMRealm *realm = [RLMRealm defaultRealm];
[realm transactionWithBlock:^() {
    // Find dogs younger than 2 years old.
    RLMResults<Dog *> *puppies = [Dog objectsInRealm:realm where:@"age < 2"];
    // Delete all objects in the collection from the realm.
    [realm deleteObjects:puppies];
}];

Delete an Object and Its Related Objects

Sometimes, you want to delete related objects when you delete the parent object. We call this a chaining delete. Realm does not delete the related objects for you. If you do not delete the objects yourself, they remain orphaned in your realm. Whether or not this is a problem depends on your application's needs.

The best way to delete dependent objects is to iterate through the dependencies and delete them before deleting the parent object.

[realm transactionWithBlock:^() {
    // Delete Ali's dogs.
    [realm deleteObjects:[ali dogs]];
    // Delete Ali.
    [realm deleteObject:ali];
}];

let person = realm.object(ofType: Person.self, forPrimaryKey: 1)!
try! realm.write {
    // Delete the related collection
    realm.delete(person.dogs)
    realm.delete(person)
}

Delete All Objects of a Specific Type

To delete all objects of a given object type from a realm, pass the result of +[YourRealmObjectClass allObjectsInRealm:] to -[Realm deleteObjects:] inside of a write transaction. Replace YourRealmObjectClass with your Realm object class name.

RLMRealm *realm = [RLMRealm defaultRealm];
[realm transactionWithBlock:^() {
    // Delete all instances of Dog from the realm.
    RLMResults<Dog *> *allDogs = [Dog allObjectsInRealm:realm];
    [realm deleteObjects:allDogs];
}];

To delete all objects of a given object type from a realm, pass the result of Realm.objects(_:) for the type you wish to delete to Realm.delete(_:) inside of a write transaction.

let realm = try! Realm()
try! realm.write {
    // Delete all instances of Dog from the realm.
    let allDogs = realm.objects(Dog.self)
    realm.delete(allDogs)
}

Delete All Objects in a Realm

To delete all objects from the realm, call -[RLMRealm deleteAllObjects] inside of a write transaction. This clears the realm of all object instances but does not affect the realm's schema.

RLMRealm *realm = [RLMRealm defaultRealm];
[realm transactionWithBlock:^() {
    // Delete all objects from the realm.
    [realm deleteAllObjects];
}];

To delete all objects from the realm, call Realm.deleteAll() inside of a write transaction. This clears the realm of all object instances but does not affect the realm's schema.

let realm = try! Realm()
try! realm.write {
    // Delete all objects from the realm.
    realm.deleteAll()
}

Delete Map Keys/Values

You can delete map entries in a few ways:

Use removeObject(for:) to remove the key and the value
If the dictionary's value is optional, you can set the value of the key to nil to keep the key.

let realm = try! Realm()
// Find the dog we want to update
let wolfie = realm.objects(Dog.self).where {
    $0.name == "Wolfie"
}.first!
// Delete an entry
try! realm.write {
    // Use removeObject(for:)
    wolfie.favoriteParksByCity.removeObject(for: "New York")
    // Or assign `nil` to delete non-optional values.
    // If the value type were optional (e.g. Map<String, String?>)
    // this would assign `nil` to that entry rather than deleting it.
    wolfie.favoriteParksByCity["New York"] = nil
}
XCTAssertNil(wolfie.favoriteParksByCity["New York"])

Delete MutableSet Elements

You can delete specific elements from a MutableSet, or clear all of the elements from the set. If you are working with multiple sets, you can also remove elements in one set from the other set; see: Update a MutableSet Property.

let realm = try! Realm()
// Record a dog's name and list of cities he has visited.
let dog = Dog()
dog.name = "Maui"
let dogCitiesVisited = ["New York", "Boston", "Toronto"]
try! realm.write {
    realm.add(dog)
    dog.citiesVisited.insert(objectsIn: dogCitiesVisited)
}
XCTAssertEqual(dog.citiesVisited.count, 3)
// Later... we decide the dog didn't really visit Toronto
// since the plane just stopped there for a layover.
// Remove the element from the set.
try! realm.write {
    dog.citiesVisited.remove("Toronto")
}
XCTAssertEqual(dog.citiesVisited.count, 2)
// Or, in the case where the person entered the data for
// the wrong dog, remove all elements from the set.
try! realm.write {
    dog.citiesVisited.removeAll()
}
XCTAssertEqual(dog.citiesVisited.count, 0)

Delete the Value of an AnyRealmValue

To delete the value of an AnyRealmValue, set it to .none.

let realm = try! Realm()
// Wolfie's companion is "Fluffy the Cat", represented by a string.
// Fluffy has gone to visit friends for the summer, so Wolfie has no companion.
let wolfie = realm.objects(Dog.self).where {
    $0.name == "Wolfie"
}.first!
try! realm.write {
    // You cannot set an AnyRealmValue to nil; you must set it to `.none`, instead.
    wolfie.companion = .none
}

Delete an Object Asynchronously

You can use Swift concurrency features to asynchronously delete objects using an actor-isolated realm.

This function from the example RealmActor defined on the Use Realm with Actors page shows how you might delete an object in an actor-isolated realm:

func deleteTodo(id: ObjectId) async throws {
    try await realm.asyncWrite {
        let todoToDelete = realm.object(ofType: Todo.self, forPrimaryKey: id)
        realm.delete(todoToDelete!)
    }
}

And you might perform this deletion using Swift's async syntax:

let actor = try await RealmActor()
let todoId = await actor.getObjectId(forTodoNamed: "Keep Mr. Frodo safe from that Gollum")
try await actor.deleteTodo(id: todoId)
let updatedTodoCount = await actor.count
if updatedTodoCount == todoCount - 1 {
    print("Successfully deleted the todo")
}

This operation does not block or perform I/O on the calling thread. For more information about writing to realm using Swift concurrency features, refer to Use Realm with Actors - Swift SDK.

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