# Deleting Data

{% hint style="warning" %}
**This is the manual for older MicroStream versions (Version < 5.0).**

**The new documentation (Version >= 5.0) is located at:**

[https://docs.microstream.one/](https://docs.microstream.one/manual)
{% endhint %}

Deleting data does not require performing explicit deleting actions like `DELETE FROM table WHERE...` . Instead you just need to clear any references to the object in your object-graph and store those changes. If a stored object is not reachable anymore its data will be deleted from the storage later. This behavior is comparable to Java's garbage collector.

```java
root.MyArrayList.remove(0);
storage.store(root.MyArrayList);
```

{% hint style="danger" %}
Deleted data is not erased immediately from the storage files
{% endhint %}

The erasing from the storage files is done by the [housekeeping ](/data-store/housekeeping.md)process.&#x20;


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