Mark a message for deletion from current mailbox

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- PHP Manual
- IMAP Functions
- Mark a message for deletion from current mailbox

# imap_delete

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

imap_delete — Mark a message for deletion from current mailbox

### Description

imap_delete(IMAP\Connection `$imap`, string `$message_nums`, int `$flags` = 0): bool

Marks messages listed in `message_nums` for deletion. Messages marked for deletion will stay in the mailbox until either imap_expunge() is called or imap_close() is called with the optional parameter `CL_EXPUNGE`.

### Parameters

`imap`

  An IMAP\Connection instance.

`message_nums`

  A string representing one or more messages in IMAP4-style sequence format (`"n"`, `"n:m"`, or combination of these delimited by commas).

`flags`

  You can set the `FT_UID` which tells the function to treat the `message_nums` argument as a `UID`.

### Return Values

Returns `true`.

### Changelog

Version | Description
--- | ---
8.1.0 | The `imap` parameter expects an IMAP\Connection instance now; previously, a valid `imap` resource was expected.

### Examples

Example #1 imap_delete() example

    <?php$mbox = imap_open("{imap.example.org}INBOX", "username", "password")    or die("Can't connect: " . imap_last_error());$check = imap_mailboxmsginfo($mbox);echo "Messages before delete: " . $check->Nmsgs . "<br />\n";imap_delete($mbox, 1);$check = imap_mailboxmsginfo($mbox);echo "Messages after  delete: " . $check->Nmsgs . "<br />\n";imap_expunge($mbox);$check = imap_mailboxmsginfo($mbox);echo "Messages after expunge: " . $check->Nmsgs . "<br />\n";imap_close($mbox);?>

### Notes

> Note:

> IMAP mailboxes may not have their message flags saved between connections, so imap_expunge() should be called during the same connection in order to guarantee that messages marked for deletion will actually be purged.

### See Also

- imap_undelete() - Unmark the message which is marked deleted
- imap_expunge() - Delete all messages marked for deletion
- imap_close() - Close an IMAP stream