# Delete a smart contract

A transaction that deletes a smart contract from a Hedera network. Once a smart contract is marked deleted, you will not be able to modify any of the contract's properties. \*\*\*\* If a smart contract did not have an admin key defined, you cannot delete the smart contract. You can verify the smart contract was deleted by submitting a smart contract info query to the network. If a smart contract has an associated hbar balance, you will need to transfer the balance to another Hedera account.

**Transaction Signing Requirements**

* If the admin key was defined for the smart contract it is required to sign the transaction.
* The client operator's (fee payer account) private key is required to sign the transaction.

**Transaction Fees**

* Please see the transaction and query [NextCall a smart contract function](broken://spaces/3UlLhrwSBZKwLvX6vlUX/pages/I5THyA7Rvm41oey6f3bu) table for base transaction fee
* Please use the [Hedera fee estimator](https://hedera.com/fees) to estimate your transaction fee cost

### Methods

| Method                                      | Type                                                                   | Description                                                          | Requirement |
| ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| `setContractId(<contractId>)`               | [ContractId](/docs/sdks-and-apis/sdks/specialized-types.md#contractid) | Sets the contract ID (x.z.y) which should be deleted.                | Required    |
| `setTransferAccountId(<transferAccountId>)` | [AccountId](/docs/sdks-and-apis/sdks/specialized-types.md#accountid)   | Sets the account ID (x.z.y) which will receive all remaining hbars   | Optional    |
| `setTransferContractId(<contractId>)`       | [ContractId](/docs/sdks-and-apis/sdks/specialized-types.md#contractid) | Sets the contract ID (x.z.y) which will receive all remaining hbars. | Optional    |

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Java" %}

```java
//Create the transaction
ContractDeleteTransaction transaction = new ContractDeleteTransaction()
    .setContractId(contractId);

//Freeze the transaction for signing, sign with the admin key on the contract, sign with the client operator private key and submit to a Hedera network
TransactionResponse txResponse = transaction.freezeWith(client).sign(adminKey).execute(client);

//Get the receipt of the transaction
TransactionReceipt receipt = txResponse.getReceipt(client);

//Get the transaction consensus status
Status transactionStatus = receipt.status;

System.out.println("The transaction consensus status is " +transactionStatus);

//v2.0.0
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="JavaScript" %}

```javascript
//Create the transaction
const transaction = await new ContractDeleteTransaction()
    .setContractId(contractId)
    .freezeWith(client);

//Sign with the admin key on the contract
const signTx = await transaction.sign(adminKey)

//Sign the transaction with the client operator's private key and submit to a Hedera network
const txResponse = await signTx.execute(client);

//Get the receipt of the transaction
const receipt = await txResponse.getReceipt(client);

//Get the transaction consensus status
const transactionStatus = receipt.status;

console.log("The transaction consensus status is " +transactionStatus);

//v2.0.5
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Go" %}

```java
//Create and freeze the transaction
transaction := hedera.NewContractDeleteTransaction().
	  SetContractID(contractID)
	  FreezeWith(client)
	
//Sign with the admin key on the contract, sign with the client operator private key and submit to a Hedera network
txResponse. err := transaction.Sign(adminKey).Execute(client)
if err != nil {
		panic(err)
}

//Get the receipt of the transaction
receipt, err := txResponse.GetReceipt(client)
if err != nil {
		panic(err)
}

//Get the transaction consensus status
transactionStatus := receipt.Status

fmt.Printf("The transaction consensus status %v\n", transactionStatus)

//v2.0.0
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://dev.uniultra.xyz/docs/sdks-and-apis/sdks/smart-contracts/delete-a-smart-contract.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.