Empty Trash

When you remove media files or directories from your server and perform a scan, Plex will typically remove the items from the media library. If you have disabled Plex from automatically emptying trash after each scan, then you will have orphan items in your Plex server.

You can manually empty the trash in Plex by using this API command.

This command is the same API command used by the Empty Trash option in Plex.

URL

PUT http://{ip_address}:32400/library/sections/{id}/emptyTrash?X-Plex-Token={plex_token}

Parameters

Return Status

Response

No response is returned. You will be able to see the empty trash API command run from the Plex console.

Remarks

The empty trash command will need to run for each library in your Plex server.

Examples

curl -X PUT http://{ip_address}:32400/library/sections/{id}/emptyTrash?X-Plex-Token={plex_token}

import requests
plex_url = http://{ip_address}:32400/library/sections/{id}/emptyTrash?X-Plex-Token={plex_token}
response = requests.put(plex_url)
print(response.text)

$response = Invoke-RestMethod 'http://{ip_address}:32400/library/sections/{id}/emptyTrash?X-Plex-Token={plex_token}' -Method 'PUT'
Write-Output $response

Script examples

Below are a list of post and articles that provide an example that use this API endpoint:

• How I Automatically Empty Trash When Files are Deleted