# Hoe verwijder ik het bestand van de gebruikersavatar?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [3 april 2021 om 04:00 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321 "2021-04-03T04:00:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [3 april 2021 om 04:00 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/1 "2021-04-03T04:00:26Z")
Hi team,
My [website](https://iosre.com) is hosted in China and as you know all Chinese websites need to register for a license from the government, hence all Chinese websites are under supervision.
Someone recently reported to my CDN service provider, Qiniu, which is also a CN company, that some images on my website are illegal. My CDN provider informed me that I should delete these images and ‘refresh URL caches’, or they can suspend my account according to law. But I found these images were user avatars, which I don’t know how to delete.
According to [How to Delete Uploaded Files? - #3 by codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-uploaded-files/25001/3) and [How to Delete Uploaded Files? - #25 by Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-uploaded-files/25001/25) uploaded images w/o references will be auto deleted in 48 hours. I have replaced these user avatars with the default letter ones, but nothing seems to be happening to the old user avatars after 72 hours, maybe it’s because user avatars are not considered uploaded images?
Any ideas on how can I delete the user avatar files completely on my server?
Thanks in advance,
Yinglu
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [5 april 2021 om 15:04 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/2 "2021-04-05T15:04:28Z")
I think it still works like this.
From the URL of the file you want to delete, get the filename.
```plaintext
cd /var/discourse/shared/uploads
find . -name =FILENAME= | xargs exec rm
```
And then you’d do whatever to purge it from your CDN.
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [6 april 2021 om 03:25 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/3 "2021-04-06T03:25:08Z")
Thanks for helping me, I tried but didn’t work ☹
The file is [https://iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/135/5414\_2.png](https://iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/135/5414_2.png) so I guess the filename is 5414\_2.png, correct?
And the `/uploads` is under `/shared/standalone` rather than `/shared`
And there’s no such a file under `/uploads`, as you can see in the shell:
```plaintext
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared# ls
standalone
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared# cd standalone/
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared/standalone# ls
backups postgres_backup postgres_run state uploads
log postgres_data redis_data tmp
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared/standalone# find . -name 5414_2.png
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared/standalone# cd uploads/
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared/standalone/uploads# find . -name 5414_2.png
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared/standalone/uploads#
```
Any more ideas?
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [6 april 2021 om 13:18 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/4 "2021-04-06T13:18:03Z")
Oh sorry. Avatars work differently. I would have to look at the code to understand where to look. If this is an emergency and you have a budget please contact me directly. I likely won’t have free time to investigate otherwise. Perhaps someone else knows.
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [7 april 2021 om 03:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/5 "2021-04-07T03:09:21Z")
Sorry this is a personal website and I don’t have any budget for now. Thanks for your reply anyway!
---
### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [7 april 2021 om 06:01 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/6 "2021-04-07T06:01:35Z")
To prevent users from uploading future avatars, you can disable `allow uploaded avatars` and enable the `selectable avatars` site setting with a large selection.
> [@snakeninny](#):
>
> I have replaced these user avatars with the default letter ones, but nothing seems to be happening to the old user avatars after 72 hours, maybe it’s because user avatars are not considered uploaded images?
I think you may need to _upload a replacement placeholder_ in order for automatic deletion - the user record is still keeping the uploaded avatar image alive even though it’s not in use.
* * *
Upload files are named based on the SHA1 of the image content - that may help you to find the backing file?
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [7 april 2021 om 15:45 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/7 "2021-04-07T15:45:50Z")
Something like
```plaintext
a=UserAvatar.where(user_id: 1234)
u=Upload.find(a.custom_upload_id)
upload_url=u.url
```
Then
```plaintext
cd /var/discourse/shared/standalone
rm UPLOAD_URL_FROM_ABOVE
```
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [8 april 2021 om 04:25 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/8 "2021-04-08T04:25:09Z")
> [@riking](#):
>
> To prevent users from uploading future avatars, you can disable `allow uploaded avatars` and enable the `selectable avatars` site setting with a large selection.
I have over 7k registered users and only less than 5 users use illegal avatars w/o knowing it, so I don’t want to make it a 0 or 1 problem; I want to solve it case by case rather than stopping all users from using custom avatars.
> [@riking](#):
>
> I think you may need to _upload a replacement placeholder_ in order for automatic deletion - the user record is still keeping the uploaded avatar image alive even though it’s not in use.
How do I do this? I have no idea at all
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [8 april 2021 om 04:29 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/9 "2021-04-08T04:29:42Z")
> [@riking](#):
>
> Upload files are named based on the SHA1 of the image content - that may help you to find the backing file?
For example this image [https://iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/135/5414\_2.png](https://iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/135/5414_2.png)
```plaintext
snakeninny@bogon ~ % shasum /Users/snakeninny/Desktop/5414_2.png.jpeg
c8d561c5484a1f197abd32995411caaa25e53bd6 /Users/snakeninny/Desktop/5414_2.png.jpeg
```
```plaintext
root@iosre:~# cd /var/discourse/shared/standalone
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared/standalone# find ./ -name *c8d561c5484a1f197abd32995411caaa25e53bd6*
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared/standalone#
```
No luck. Is this what you mean? And any ideas?
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [8 april 2021 om 04:31 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/10 "2021-04-08T04:31:36Z")
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> ```plaintext
> a=UserAvatar.where(user_id: 1234)
> u=Upload.find(a.custom_upload_id)
> upload_url=u.url
>
> ```
Is this a piece of code? Where and how do I execute it? I used to be an iOS developer and am not familiar with front-end programming
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [8 april 2021 om 12:59 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/11 "2021-04-08T12:59:49Z")
It’s for the rails console. You’d get there with
```plaintext
cd /var/discourse
./launcher enter app
rails c
```
You can use `exit` to quit. And inside the container you cd to `/shared` rather than the full path above.
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [8 april 2021 om 13:52 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/12 "2021-04-08T13:52:45Z")
For user `lincwee` in [https://iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/135/5414\_2.png](https://iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/135/5414_2.png)
`UserAvatar.where(user_id: 'lincwee')` returns an empty array. Any ideas?
```plaintext
root@iosre:~# cd /var/discourse/shared/
root@iosre:/var/discourse/shared# /var/discourse/launcher enter app
WARNING: Docker version 17.05.0-ce deprecated, recommend upgrade to 17.06.2 or newer.
root@iosre-app:/var/www/discourse# rails c
[1] pry(main)> a=UserAvatar.where(user_id: 1234)
=> []
[2] pry(main)> a=UserAvatar.where(user_id: lincwee)
NameError: undefined local variable or method `lincwee' for main:Object
from (pry):2:in ` __pry__'
[3] pry(main)> a=UserAvatar.where(user_id: 'lincwee')
=> []
[4] pry(main)>
```
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [8 april 2021 om 13:57 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/13 "2021-04-08T13:57:39Z")
You’ll need the ID, not username.
```
u=User.find_by(username: "lincwee")
```
You can then see the id or access it with `u.id`
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [9 april 2021 om 14:16 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/14 "2021-04-09T14:16:56Z")
Thanks it worked to some extent. I’ve run
```plaintext
cd /var/discourse/shared/
/var/discourse/launcher enter app
rails c
```
In the terminal and then executed the code
```plaintext
uid = User.find_by(username: "user_name").id
user_avatars = UserAvatar.where(user_id: uid)
user_avatar = user_avatars[0]
upload_url = Upload.find(user_avatar.custom_upload_id).url
```
to list all avatar URLs and deleted them from my server.
But I guess I still need to further refresh the system/cache? How should I do this?
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [5 juni 2021 om 03:20 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/15 "2021-06-05T03:20:52Z")
I got another email from my CDN provider and they have frozen my CDN account. So I have to update this thread for further help.
The new email said that the following links were illegal.
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/64/2210\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/64/2210_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/75/2210\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/75/2210_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/75/2210\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/75/2210_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/75/2210\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/75/2210_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/135/5414\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/135/5414_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/75/2210\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/75/2210_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/75/5414\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/75/5414_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/96/2210\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/96/2210_2.png)
[https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/90/5414\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/lincwee/90/5414_2.png)
As you can see these are 2 user avatars, which are memes of a former Chinese president. Again, the CDN provider asked me to delete these files on the server and refresh CDN.
I could see from the link that the users were “baal998” and “lincwee”. According to the code snippet in my last post, the uploaded avatar URL of “lincwee” was `/uploads/default/original/2X/5/55512211b1c8969c8038b79840464952cd3eb089.jpeg` while for “baal998” it was `/uploads/default/original/2X/c/cb2188eaeecc3a648f021fa00da4734bd60ca183.jpg`. I then run `find /var/discourse/shared/ -name *55512211b1c8969c8038b79840464952cd3eb089*` and deleted all files found, it worked for “lincwee”. But no luck on “baal998”, I could still access [https://iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210\_2.png](https://iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210_2.png) even though there were no more files with the name `*cb2188eaeecc3a648f021fa00da4734bd60ca183*`.
So where the hell is [https://iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210\_2.png](https://iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210_2.png) stored on my server? 😭
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [5 juni 2021 om 04:37 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/16 "2021-06-05T04:37:32Z")
Hmm, that is a difficult situation. Maybe @falco or someone else who worked on avatars recently could advise you?
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [5 juni 2021 om 07:44 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/17 "2021-06-05T07:44:10Z")
Or to make it simpler: How does Discourse parse a visit to [https://iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210\_2.png](https://iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210_2.png)? If someone familiar with the source code can tell me the source file or the class/function, that would be really helpful. Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [5 juni 2021 om 12:18 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/18 "2021-06-05T12:18:53Z")
Look in the Uploads model, I think.
Also, start with pulling from your server, not the CDN. You want to be sure that you are solving the problem in the right place. Once you’re sure that the server isn’t sending the images you can work with the CDN.
---
### Author:  [@snakeninny](https://meta.discourse.org/u/snakeninny)
#### Post date: [5 juni 2021 om 13:03 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/19 "2021-06-05T13:03:08Z")
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> start with pulling from your server, not the CDN
Since [https://cdn.iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210\_2.png](https://cdn.iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210_2.png)is from CDN,
[https://iosre.com/user\_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210\_2.png](https://iosre.com/user_avatar/iosre.com/baal998/135/2210_2.png)is supposed to be from my server, right?
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [5 juni 2021 om 14:08 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321/20 "2021-06-05T14:08:59Z")
Yes and you see that it is getting sent by your server. So that’s the link to be trying to fix. After you make that stop sending the images you can clear the CDN
[Volgende pagina](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-i-delete-the-file-of-user-avatar/185321.md?page=2)