Title: WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::delete_item
Published: August 11, 2020
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::delete_item( WP_REST_Request $request ): 󠀁[WP_REST_Response](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_response/)󠁿|󠀁[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)󠁿

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Deletes one plugin from the site.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$request`[WP_REST_Request](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_request/)
required

Full details about the request.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 [WP_REST_Response](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_response/)
|[WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/) Response
object on success, or [WP_Error](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/)
object on failure.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function delete_item( $request ) {
    	require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/file.php';
    	require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/plugin.php';

    	$data = $this->get_plugin_data( $request['plugin'] );

    	if ( is_wp_error( $data ) ) {
    		return $data;
    	}

    	if ( is_plugin_active( $request['plugin'] ) ) {
    		return new WP_Error(
    			'rest_cannot_delete_active_plugin',
    			__( 'Cannot delete an active plugin. Please deactivate it first.' ),
    			array( 'status' => 400 )
    		);
    	}

    	$filesystem_available = $this->is_filesystem_available();
    	if ( is_wp_error( $filesystem_available ) ) {
    		return $filesystem_available;
    	}

    	$prepared = $this->prepare_item_for_response( $data, $request );
    	$deleted  = delete_plugins( array( $request['plugin'] ) );

    	if ( is_wp_error( $deleted ) ) {
    		$deleted->add_data( array( 'status' => 500 ) );

    		return $deleted;
    	}

    	return new WP_REST_Response(
    		array(
    			'deleted'  => true,
    			'previous' => $prepared->get_data(),
    		)
    	);
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php#L529)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php#L529-L567)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::get_plugin_data()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/get_plugin_data/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php` |

Gets the plugin header data for a plugin.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::is_filesystem_available()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/is_filesystem_available/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php` |

Determine if the endpoints are available.

  | 
| [WP_REST_Plugins_Controller::prepare_item_for_response()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/prepare_item_for_response/)`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-plugins-controller.php` |

Prepares the plugin for the REST response.

  | 
| [is_plugin_active()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_plugin_active/)`wp-admin/includes/plugin.php` |

Determines whether a plugin is active.

  | 
| [delete_plugins()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_plugins/)`wp-admin/includes/plugin.php` |

Removes directory and files of a plugin for a list of plugins.

  | 
| [__()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__/)`wp-includes/l10n.php` |

Retrieves the translation of $text.

  | 
| [is_wp_error()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_wp_error/)`wp-includes/load.php` |

Checks whether the given variable is a WordPress Error.

  | 
| [WP_Error::__construct()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_error/__construct/)`wp-includes/class-wp-error.php` |

Initializes the error.

  |

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## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_rest_plugins_controller/delete_item/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [5.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/5.5.0/) | Introduced. |

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