Vyatta documentation

Learn how to install, configure, and operate the Vyatta Network Operating System (Vyatta NOS) and Orchestrator, which help drive our virtual networking and physical platforms portfolio.

General use of the delete command

An overview of the logic of this command.

To delete a configuration path in the candidate configuration, you prefix the path with the keyword delete. That is, you build a command string with delete at its root, and the structure of the string must conform to the configuration path that you want to delete.

So, a complete command string in this case could take a form that looks like:

delete keyword1 keyword2 <value2> keyword3 keyword4 <value4>

If keyword4 is a single-item keyword, then:

  • The system will delete keyword4 <value4> from the candidate configuration. Note that a hidden default value might take its place.

If keyword4 is a list-item keyword, then:

  • The system will delete the specific list item that you specified for keyword4 <value4> from the candidate configuration; but other list items will remain.

If keyword4 is a list-item keyword then you can use a command string like this delete all of the keyword4 <value> configuration paths in a single step:

delete keyword1 keyword2 <value2> keyword3 keyword4

That is, to select all values, specify only keyword4, without any value.

This command will also delete a single-item keyword configuration path.

If keyword4 is a simple configuration leaf node, then the remaining configuration path keyword1 keyword2 <value2> keyword3 will still exist. It could be that there is also a keyword1 keyword2 <value2> keyword3 keyword5 <value5> leaf node.

Technically, you could delete the entire configuration path one step at a time, through a sequence like this:

delete keyword1 keyword2 <value2> keyword3 keyword4 <value4>
delete keyword1 keyword2 <value2> keyword3
delete keyword1 keyword2 <value2>
delete keyword1

But this requires a lot more typing, for no gain. (You may notice that this is rather like the set command, but in opposite form.)

However, you can use delete keyword1 to delete that entire branch of the configuration tree — that is, to delete the keyword1 node and all of its descendant nodes.