Deleting a Bucket with aws s3 rb

When a bucket has outlived its purpose, use aws s3 rb. Short for "remove bucket," it deletes an empty bucket.

The syntax is aws s3 rb s3://bucket-name. The bucket must be empty, unless you add --force.

Running aws s3 rb s3://my-bucket on a bucket that still holds objects fails with BucketNotEmpty — empty it first, then remove it.

A common stumble is reaching for --force immediately and deleting contents you meant to keep. Look at what's inside before forcing.

In real work, tidying up unused buckets keeps both the console and the bill manageable.