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Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center
Remove
  • See Also
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Remove[s1,s2,…]

removes the symbols si completely, so that their names are no longer recognized by the Wolfram Language.

Remove[patt1,patt2,…]

removes all symbols whose names textually match any of the arbitrary string patterns patti.

Remove[{spec1,spec2,…}]

removes any symbols that are equal to or whose names match any of the speci.

Details
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Symbol Inputs  
Using Patterns  
Symbol-like Objects  
Applications  
Properties & Relations  
Possible Issues  
See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
Related Workflows
History
Cite this Page
BUILT-IN SYMBOL
  • See Also
    • Clear
    • ClearAll
    • ClearAttributes
    • Unset
    • TagUnset
    • Unprotect
    • Names
    • Definition
    • WithCleanup
  • Related Guides
    • Symbol Handling
    • Namespace Management
    • Memory Measurement & Optimization
    • Tuning & Debugging
    • Assignments
  • Workflows
    • Clear Definitions for Symbols and Functions
    • Handle Shadowing of Symbol Names
  • Tech Notes
    • Wolfram Language Packages
    • Contexts
    • Manipulating Symbols and Contexts by Name
    • See Also
      • Clear
      • ClearAll
      • ClearAttributes
      • Unset
      • TagUnset
      • Unprotect
      • Names
      • Definition
      • WithCleanup
    • Related Guides
      • Symbol Handling
      • Namespace Management
      • Memory Measurement & Optimization
      • Tuning & Debugging
      • Assignments
    • Workflows
      • Clear Definitions for Symbols and Functions
      • Handle Shadowing of Symbol Names
    • Tech Notes
      • Wolfram Language Packages
      • Contexts
      • Manipulating Symbols and Contexts by Name

Remove

Remove[s1,s2,…]

removes the symbols si completely, so that their names are no longer recognized by the Wolfram Language.

Remove[patt1,patt2,…]

removes all symbols whose names textually match any of the arbitrary string patterns patti.

Remove[{spec1,spec2,…}]

removes any symbols that are equal to or whose names match any of the speci.

Details

  • You can use Remove to get rid of symbols that you do not need, and which may shadow symbols in contexts later on your context path. »
  • The pattern patt can be given as a string with metacharacters, as StringExpression[…] or as RegularExpression["regex"]. »
  • Remove allows abbreviated string patterns containing the following metacharacters:
  • *match zero or more characters
    @match one or more characters, but not uppercase letters
  • Remove["context`*"] removes all symbols in a particular context. »
  • Remove["`*"] removes all symbols in the current context. »
  • Once you have removed a symbol, you will never be able to refer to it again, unless you recreate it.
  • If you have an expression that contains a symbol that you remove, the removed symbol will be printed as Removed["name"], where its name is given in a string. »
  • Remove works with LocalSymbol, CloudSymbol, PersistentSymbol and InitializationValue objects. »
  • Remove does not affect symbols with the attributes Locked or Protected. »
  • Remove has attribute HoldAll. »

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (1)

Define a symbol:

Remove the symbol:

The symbol has been removed from the system:

Scope  (11)

Symbol Inputs  (2)

Remove several symbols:

They are no longer recognized as valid names:

Use a combination of symbols and symbol names:

Only x3 remains known to the system:

Using Patterns  (5)

Specify symbols to remove as string patterns:

Remove all symbols in the current context:

There are no longer any symbols in the current context:

Remove all symbols in a given context:

Remove all 2-character symbols in the current context using StringExpression:

The symbols x1 and x2 were removed, but y remains unaffected:

Remove all 3-character symbols in the current context using RegularExpression:

Symbol-like Objects  (4)

Remove a local symbol:

Remove a cloud symbol:

Remove a persistent symbol:

Remove initialization values for a symbol:

Applications  (1)

If a symbol from a package is used before the package is loaded, an extra symbol is created:

The extra symbol in the current context should be removed:

Only the correct symbol from the package remains:

Properties & Relations  (5)

Remove[pattern] removes the same symbols as Remove/@Names[pattern]:

If a symbol is removed, all of its properties and definitions are removed as well:

Using the same symbol again creates a new one without any of its old properties:

ClearAll also removes all properties and definitions but leaves the symbol intact:

Remove removes the symbol completely:

If an expression still refers to a removed symbol, those places are denoted with Removed:

Remove has the attribute HoldAll:

This removes symbol itself:

This removes its value:

Possible Issues  (3)

Protected symbols cannot be removed:

Use Unprotect to remove protected symbols:

Remove does not affected locked symbols:

When using a pattern without a context mark, all matching symbols on $ContextPath are removed:

The symbol xy was removed, along with attempts to remove several system symbols:

Use a pattern with an explicit context mark to avoid potentially matching symbols from system or other contexts:

See Also

Clear  ClearAll  ClearAttributes  Unset  TagUnset  Unprotect  Names  Definition  WithCleanup

Tech Notes

    ▪
  • Wolfram Language Packages
  • ▪
  • Contexts
  • ▪
  • Manipulating Symbols and Contexts by Name

Related Guides

    ▪
  • Symbol Handling
  • ▪
  • Namespace Management
  • ▪
  • Memory Measurement & Optimization
  • ▪
  • Tuning & Debugging
  • ▪
  • Assignments

Related Workflows

    Related Workflows
    ▪
  • Clear Definitions for Symbols and Functions
  • ▪
  • Handle Shadowing of Symbol Names

History

Introduced in 1988 (1.0) | Updated in 2016 (11.0) ▪ 2022 (13.2)

Wolfram Research (1988), Remove, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Remove.html (updated 2022).

Text

Wolfram Research (1988), Remove, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Remove.html (updated 2022).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1988. "Remove." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2022. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Remove.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1988). Remove. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Remove.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_remove, author="Wolfram Research", title="{Remove}", year="2022", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Remove.html}", note=[Accessed: 01-February-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_remove, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={Remove}, year={2022}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Remove.html}, note=[Accessed: 01-February-2026]}

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