Title: iis7_delete_rewrite_rule
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# iis7_delete_rewrite_rule( string $filename ): bool

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Deletes WordPress rewrite rule from web.config file if it exists there.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$filename`stringrequired

Name of the configuration file.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 bool Whether the rule was deleted.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    function iis7_delete_rewrite_rule( $filename ) {
    	// If configuration file does not exist then rules also do not exist, so there is nothing to delete.
    	if ( ! file_exists( $filename ) ) {
    		return true;
    	}

    	if ( ! class_exists( 'DOMDocument', false ) ) {
    		return false;
    	}

    	$doc                     = new DOMDocument();
    	$doc->preserveWhiteSpace = false;

    	if ( $doc->load( $filename ) === false ) {
    		return false;
    	}

    	$xpath = new DOMXPath( $doc );
    	$rules = $xpath->query( '/configuration/system.webServer/rewrite/rules/rule[starts-with(@name,\'wordpress\')] | /configuration/system.webServer/rewrite/rules/rule[starts-with(@name,\'WordPress\')]' );

    	if ( $rules->length > 0 ) {
    		$child  = $rules->item( 0 );
    		$parent = $child->parentNode;
    		$parent->removeChild( $child );
    		$doc->formatOutput = true;
    		saveDomDocument( $doc, $filename );
    	}

    	return true;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-admin/includes/misc.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-admin/includes/misc.php#L859)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-admin/includes/misc.php#L859-L888)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [saveDomDocument()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/savedomdocument/)`wp-admin/includes/misc.php` |

Saves the XML document into a file.

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [iis7_save_url_rewrite_rules()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_save_url_rewrite_rules/)`wp-admin/includes/misc.php` |

Updates the IIS web.config file with the current rules if it is writable.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/iis7_delete_rewrite_rule/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [2.8.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.8.0/) | Introduced. |

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