How to Delete Multiple Resource Groups at Once Using Azure CLI

While working on my Azure lab environment recently, I created multiple Resource Groups across different regions for testing and learning purposes. After completing the testing, deleting each Resource Group manually from the Azure Portal felt very time-consuming.

That’s when I used Microsoft Azure CLI to delete multiple Resource Groups at once, and honestly, it saved a lot of time.

In this article, I’ll share the simple method I used to bulk delete Azure Resource Groups using Azure CLI.

Resource Groups, which I have created for test purposes

Why I Needed This

If you are learning Azure, doing cloud practice, testing ARM templates, Terraform, monitoring tools, or creating temporary environments, you may end up with many Resource Groups, like:

1. Test Resource Groups
2. Lab environments
3. Practice deployments
4. Temporary VM setups
5. Monitoring or DevOps testing resources

Deleting them one by one from the Azure Portal is not practical, especially when there are many Resource Groups.

What is a Resource Group in Azure

A Resource Group in Azure is basically a container that holds related resources together. For example:

• Virtual Machines
• Storage Accounts
• Databases
• Virtual Networks
• App Services

When we delete a Resource Group, all the resources inside it will also be deleted automatically. So always double-check before running the delete command. You can refer to the snapshot below for the resource group overview.

Prerequisites before doing this activity

Before starting, make sure:

1. Azure CLI is installed
2. You have access to an Azure Subscription
3. You are logged into Azure CLI

Login command: (Bash)

az login

To verify your subscription: (Bash)

az account show

Please refer to the snapshot below for reference

Method 1 – Delete Resource Groups One by One

Before Deleting Selected Resource Groups

Intializing below commands

Initially, I tried this method in Bash

az group delete --name rg-dt-ynm15445-italynorth --yes --no-wait

az group delete --name rg-dt-ynm15445-japaneast --yes --no-wait

az group delete --name rg-dt-ynm15445-japanwest --yes --no-wait

Azure CLI Snapshot

Note: This works fine, but when there are many Resource Groups, it becomes repetitive.

Better Method – Delete Multiple Resource Groups Using a Loop

This is the easiest and cleanest approach. That you have to execute in Bash, I am gonna delete the below bulk resource groups

Execute the command below in Azure CLI (Bash)

for rg in \

rg-dt-ynm15445-koreacentral \

rg-dt-ynm15445-koreasouth \

rg-dt-ynm15445-malaysiawest \

rg-dt-ynm15445-mexicocentral \

rg-dt-ynm15445-newzealandnorth \

rg-dt-ynm15445-northcentralus \

rg-dt-ynm15445-northeurope \

rg-dt-ynm15445-norwayeast \

rg-dt-ynm15445-polandcentral \

rg-dt-ynm15445-qatarcentral

do

   az group delete --name $rg --yes --no-wait

done

Azure CLI Snapshot

Understanding the Command

--yes

• Skips the confirmation prompt.

--no-wait

• Runs the deletion process in the background instead of waiting for completion.

This is especially helpful when deleting large environments.

How to Check Remaining Resource Groups

After deletion, I verified the remaining Resource Groups using the following command: Please refer to the Azure CLI Snapshot below

az group list --output table

1. Deletion is Permanent

Once a Resource Group is deleted, all resources inside it are removed permanently.

2. Check Before Running

Always verify the Resource Group names before executing the command.

3. Locks Can Prevent Deletion

If a Resource Group has a Delete Lock enabled, Azure will not allow deletion until the lock is removed.