Delete in DynamoDB Using Java (Guide w/ Code Examples)

DeleteItem removes one item identified by its full primary key. Deleting a key that does not exist succeeds without creating or changing another item.

This example uses Java 17+ and the software.amazon.awssdk:dynamodb SDK 2.x dependency. Configure an AWS Region and credentials through your usual AWS profile or runtime role. The Orders table has String keys pk and sk; adapt the table and keys to your schema.

import java.util.*;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.DynamoDbClient;
import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.*;

public class Example {
    static AttributeValue s(String value) { return AttributeValue.builder().s(value).build(); }
    static Map<String, AttributeValue> key(String order) {
        return Map.of("pk", s("CUSTOMER#123"), "sk", s(order));
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
        try (DynamoDbClient ddb = DynamoDbClient.create()) {
            ddb.deleteItem(DeleteItemRequest.builder()
                .tableName("Orders").key(key("ORDER#001")).build());
        }
    }
}

For a table with a sort key, supplying only the partition key is insufficient. Use a query followed by individual deletes to remove an entire item collection.

Reference: AWS DeleteItem API. For related access patterns, see DynamoDB query examples.