1--- 2layout: "docs" 3page_title: "Command: destroy" 4sidebar_current: "docs-commands-destroy" 5description: "The terraform destroy command destroys all objects managed by a Terraform configuration." 6--- 7 8# Command: destroy 9 10The `terraform destroy` command is a convenient way to destroy all remote 11objects managed by a particular Terraform configuration. 12 13While you will typically not want to destroy long-lived objects in a production 14environment, Terraform is sometimes used to manage ephemeral infrastructure 15for development purposes, in which case you can use `terraform destroy` to 16conveniently clean up all of those temporary objects once you are finished 17with your work. 18 19## Usage 20 21Usage: `terraform destroy [options]` 22 23This command is just a convenience alias for the following command: 24 25``` 26terraform apply -destroy 27``` 28 29For that reason, this command accepts most of the options that 30[`terraform apply`](./apply.html) accepts, although it does 31not accept a plan file argument and forces the selection of the "destroy" 32planning mode. 33 34You can also create a speculative destroy plan, to see what the effect of 35destroying would be, by running the following command: 36 37``` 38terraform plan -destroy 39``` 40 41This will run [`terraform plan`](./plan.html) in _destroy_ mode, showing 42you the proposed destroy changes without executing them. 43 44-> **Note:** The `-destroy` option to `terraform apply` exists only in 45Terraform v0.15.2 and later. For earlier versions, you _must_ use 46`terraform destroy` to get the effect of `terraform apply -destroy`. 47