API:Revisiondelete

This page is part of the MediaWiki Action API documentation.

POST request to delete and undelete revisions.

MediaWiki version:

≥ 1.23

API documentation

The following documentation is the output of Special:ApiHelp/revisiondelete, automatically generated by the pre-release version of MediaWiki that is running on this site (MediaWiki.org).

action=revisiondelete

(main | revisiondelete)

This module requires read rights.
This module requires write rights.
This module only accepts POST requests.
Source: MediaWiki
License: GPL-2.0-or-later

Delete and undelete revisions.

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Revisiondelete

Specific parameters:

Other general parameters are available.

type: Type of revision deletion being performed.; This parameter is required.; One of the following values: archive, filearchive, logging, oldimage, revision
target: Page title for the revision deletion, if required for the type.
ids: Identifiers for the revisions to be deleted.; This parameter is required.; Separate values with | or alternative.; Maximum number of values is 50 (500 for clients that are allowed higher limits).
hide: What to hide for each revision.; Values (separate with | or alternative): comment, content, user
show: What to unhide for each revision.; Values (separate with | or alternative): comment, content, user
suppress: Whether to suppress data from administrators as well as others.; One of the following values: no, nochange, yes; Default: nochange
reason: Reason for the deletion or undeletion.
tags: Tags to apply to the entry in the deletion log.; Values (separate with | or alternative): AWB, convenient-discussions
token: A "csrf" token retrieved from action=query&meta=tokens; This parameter is required.

Examples:

Hide content for revision 12345 on the page MediaWiki.: api.php?action=revisiondelete&target=MediaWiki&type=revision&ids=12345&hide=content&token=123ABC [open in sandbox]
Hide all data on log entry 67890 with the reason BLP violation.: api.php?action=revisiondelete&type=logging&ids=67890&hide=content|comment|user&reason=BLP%20violation&token=123ABC [open in sandbox]

Example

Making any POST request is a multi-step process:

Log in, via one of the methods described on API:Login .
GET an edit/CSRF token as shown here API:Tokens
api.php?action=query&format=json&meta=tokens [try in ApiSandbox]
Send a POST request, with the CSRF token, to delete and undelete revisions.

The sample codes below cover these steps.

POST request

Hide all information about a certain revision ID. (The target, Sample Page, is unnecessary in this case.)

api.php?action=revisiondelete&type=revision&ids=71&hide=content|comment|user&reason=Because&token=feef47c29c326a3449f573576056b72d5e2159ea%2B%5C [try in ApiSandbox]

Response

{
  "revisiondelete": {
    "status": "Success",
    "target": "Sample Page",
    "items": [
      {
        "status": "Success",
        "id": 71,
        "timestamp": "2016-12-17T03:16:23Z",
        "userhidden": "",
        "commenthidden": "",
        "texthidden": "",
        "userid": 4,
        "user": "Test User",
        "comment": "This should get revdel'd"
      }
    ]
  }

Sample code

Python

#!/usr/bin/python3

"""
    revision_delete.py

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Revisiondelete` module: Hide all information about a certain revision ID.

    MIT license
"""
import requests

S = requests.Session()

URL = "https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"

# Step 1: Retrieve a login token
PARAMS_1 = {
    "action": "query",
    "meta": "tokens",
    "type": "login",
    "format": "json"
}

R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS_1)
DATA = R.json()

LOGIN_TOKEN = DATA['query']['tokens']['logintoken']

# Step 2: Send a POST request to log in. For this login
# method, obtain credentials by first visiting
# https://www.test.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual:Bot_passwords
# See https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Login for more
# information on log in methods.
PARAMS_2 = {
    "action": "login",
    "lgname": "user_name",
    "lgpassword": "password",
    "format": "json",
    "lgtoken": LOGIN_TOKEN
}

R = S.post(URL, data=PARAMS_2)
DATA = R.json()

# Step 3: While logged in, retrieve a CSRF token
PARAMS_3 = {
    "action": "query",
    "meta": "tokens",
    "format": "json"
}

R = S.get(url=URL, params=PARAMS_3)
DATA = R.json()

CSRF_TOKEN = DATA["query"]["tokens"]["csrftoken"]

# Step 4: Send a POST request to hide all information about a certain revision ID.
PARAMS_4 = {
    "action":"revisiondelete",
    "type":"revision",
    "ids":"71",
    "format":"json",
    "hide":"content|comment|user",
    "reason":"Because",
    "token" : CSRF_TOKEN
    }

R = S.post(URL, data=PARAMS_4)
DATA = R.text

print(DATA)

PHP

<?php

/*
    revision_delete.php

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Revisiondelete` module: Hide all information about a certain revision ID.

    MIT license
*/
$endPoint = "https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";

$login_Token = getLoginToken(); // Step 1
loginRequest( $login_Token ); // Step 2
$csrf_Token = getCSRFToken(); // Step 3
mergehistory( $csrf_Token ); // Step 4

// Step 1: GET request to fetch login token
function getLoginToken() {
	global $endPoint;

	$params1 = [
		"action" => "query",
		"meta" => "tokens",
		"type" => "login",
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$url = $endPoint . "?" . http_build_query( $params1 );

	$ch = curl_init( $url );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

	$result = json_decode( $output, true );
	return $result["query"]["tokens"]["logintoken"];
}

// Step 2: Send a POST request to log in. For this login
// method, obtain credentials by first visiting
// https://www.test.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual:Bot_passwords
// See https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Login for more
// information on log in methods.
function loginRequest( $logintoken ) {
	global $endPoint;

	$params2 = [
		"action" => "login",
		"lgname" => "bot_user_name",
		"lgpassword" => "bot_password",
		"lgtoken" => $logintoken,
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$ch = curl_init();

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, $endPoint );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query( $params2 ) );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );
}

// Step 3: GET request to fetch CSRF token
function getCSRFToken() {
	global $endPoint;

	$params3 = [
		"action" => "query",
		"meta" => "tokens",
		"format" => "json"
	];

	$url = $endPoint . "?" . http_build_query( $params3 );

	$ch = curl_init( $url );

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$output = curl_exec( $ch );
	curl_close( $ch );

	$result = json_decode( $output, true );
	return $result["query"]["tokens"]["csrftoken"];
}

# Step 4: Send a POST request to hide all information about a certain revision ID.
function mergeHistory( $csrftoken ) {
	global $endPoint;
	
	$params4 = [
		"action" => "revisiondelete",
		"type" => "revision",
		"ids" => "71",
		"format" => "json",
		"hide" => "content|comment|user",
		"reason" => "Because",
		"token" => $csrftoken
	];
  
	$ch = curl_init();

	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_URL, $endPoint );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query( $params4 ) );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, "cookie.txt" );
	curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "cookie.txt" );

	$response = curl_exec($ch);
	curl_close($ch);

	echo ($response);
}

JavaScript

/*
    revision_delete.js

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Revisiondelete` module: Hide all information about a certain revision ID.

    MIT license
*/
var request = require("request").defaults({jar: true}),
url = "https://test.wikipedia.org/w/api.php";

// Step 1: GET Request to fetch login token
function getLoginToken() {
    var params_0 = {
        action: "query",
        meta: "tokens",
        type: "login",
        format: "json"
    };
    request.get({ url: url, qs: params_0 }, function (error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        var data = JSON.parse(body);
        loginRequest(data.query.tokens.logintoken);
    });
}

// Step 2: Send a POST request to log in. For this login
// method, obtain credentials by first visiting
// https://www.test.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual:Bot_passwords
// See https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Login for more
// information on log in methods.
function loginRequest(login_token) {
    var params_1 = {
        action: "login",
        lgname: "bot_username",
        lgpassword: "bot_password",
        lgtoken: login_token,
        format: "json"
    };
    request.post({ url: url, form: params_1 }, function (error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        getCsrfToken();
    });
}

// Step 3: GET request to fetch CSRF token
function getCsrfToken() {
    var params_2 = {
        action: "query",
        meta: "tokens",
        format: "json"
    };
    request.get({ url: url, qs: params_2 }, function(error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        var data = JSON.parse(body);
        mergeHistory(data.query.tokens.csrftoken);
    });
}

// Step 4: Send a POST request to hide all information about a certain revision ID.
function mergeHistory(csrf_token) {
    var params_3 = {
        action:"revisiondelete",
        type:"revision",
        ids:"71",
        format:"json",
        hide:"content|comment|user",
        reason:"Because",
        token: csrf_token
    };
    request.post({ url: url, form: params_3 }, function(error, res, body) {
        if (error) {
            return;
        }
        console.log(body);
    });
}

// Start From Step 1
getLoginToken();

MediaWiki JS

/*
	revision_delete.js

    MediaWiki API Demos
    Demo of `Revisiondelete` module: Hide all information about a certain revision ID.

    MIT license
*/

var params = {
    action: 'revisiondelete',
    type: 'revision',
    ids: '71',
    format: 'json',
    hide: 'content|comment|user',
    reason: 'Because',
},
api = new mw.Api();

api.postWithToken( 'csrf', params ).done( function ( data ) {
console.log( data );
} );

Possible errors


Code	Info
badtoken	Invalid CSRF token.
permissiondenied	You don't have permission to delete revisions
paramempty	The parameter `ids` may not be empty.
revdel-mutuallyexclusive	The same field cannot be used in both `hide` and `show`.
revdel-paramneeded	At least one value is required for `hide` and/or `show`.
revdel-needtarget	A target title is required for this RevDel type.

Parameter history

v1.29: Introduced tags