.\" Copyright (c) 2010-2018 Dovecot authors, see the included COPYING file
.TH DOVEADM\-EXPUNGE 1 "2015-05-09" "Dovecot v2.3" "Dovecot"
.SH NAME
doveadm\-expunge \- Expunge messages matching given search query
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH SYNOPSIS
.BR doveadm " [" \-Dv "] " expunge " [" \-S
.IR socket_path ]
.RB [ \-d ]
.I search_query
.br
.\"-------------------------------------
.BR doveadm " [" \-Dv "] " expunge " [" \-S
.IR socket_path ]
.RB [ \-d ]
.BI \-A " search_query"
.br
.\"-------------------------------------
.BR doveadm " [" \-Dv "] " expunge " [" \-S
.IR socket_path ]
.RB [ \-d ]
.BI \-F " file search_query"
.br
.\"-------------------------------------
.BR doveadm " [" \-Dv "] " expunge " [" \-S
.IR socket_path ]
.RB [ \-d ]
.BI \-u " user search_query"
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH DESCRIPTION
This command can be used to expunge mails matching the given search query.
It is typically used to expunge old mails from users\(aq Trash and/or Spam
mailboxes. To test which messages a given search query would match, you can
use
.I doveadm fetch
or
.I doveadm search
commands.
.PP
In the first form,
.BR doveadm (1)
will execute the
.B expunge
action with the environment of the logged in system user.
.PP
In the second form, the command will be performed for all users.
.PP
In the third form,
.BR doveadm (1)
will expunge messages of the users listed
in the given
.IR file .
.PP
In the fourth form, only matching mails of the given
.IR user (s)
will be expunged.
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
@INCLUDE:global-options@
.\" --- command specific options --- "/.
.PP
Command specific
.IR options :
.\"-------------------------------------
@INCLUDE:option-A@
.\"-------------------------------------
@INCLUDE:option-F-file@
.\"-------------------------------------
.TP
.B \-d
Delete the mailbox if it is empty after expunging.
.\"-------------------------------------
@INCLUDE:option-S-socket@
.\"-------------------------------------
@INCLUDE:option-u-user@
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH ARGUMENTS
.TP
.I search_query
Expunge messages matching this search query.
See
.BR doveadm\-search\-query (7)
for details.
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH EXAMPLE
This example expunges messages from Spam mailbox that were saved/copied
there more than two weeks ago:
.PP
.nf
.ft B
doveadm expunge \-u jane.doe@example.org mailbox Spam savedbefore 2w
.ft P
.fi
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
@INCLUDE:reporting-bugs@
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR doveadm (1),
.BR doveadm\-fetch (1),
.BR doveadm\-purge (1),
.BR doveadm\-search (1),
.BR doveadm\-search\-query (7)