Access Site administration > Development > Make test course admin page. Create 3 Small courses. Turn off debugging (if it's turned on). Run the script to delete the first test course via CLI (replace 5 by your course id), but hit n when asked if you're sure to delete the course: root @6a74e8efd623 :/var/www/vanilla-moodle-master# php admin/cli/delete_course.php --courseid= 5 Deleting course id 5 Course name: Course 1 for MDL- 74991 Short name: Course 1 for MDL- 74991   Are you sure you wish to delete this course? (y/N) : n Confirm , that the course wasn't deleted. Re-run the command, but this time answer y : root @6a74e8efd623 :/var/www/vanilla-moodle-master# php admin/cli/delete_course.php --courseid= 5 Deleting course id 5 Course name: Course 1 for MDL- 74991 Short name: Course 1 for MDL- 74991   Are you sure you wish to delete this course? (y/N) : y ++ Deleted - Completion tracking ++ ++ Deleted - Grades, Items, Categories ++ ++ Deleted - Outcomes ++ ++ Deleted - Scales ++ ++ Deleted - Settings ++ ++ Deleted - Letters ++ ++ Deleted - Blocks ++ ++ Deleted - Assignment ++ ++ Deleted - Forum ++ ++ Deleted - Page ++ ++ Deleted - File ++ ++ Deleted - Activity modules ++ ++ Deleted - Questions ++ ++ Deleted - Content bank ++ ++ Deleted - Enrolment methods ++ ++ Deleted - Groupings ++ ++ Deleted - Groups ++ Updating course count in categories... Done! Confirm , that the course was successfully deleted. Delete the second test course via CLI with enabled debugging (replace 6 by your course id): root @6a74e8efd623 :/var/www/vanilla-moodle-master# php admin/cli/delete_course.php --courseid= 6 --showdebugging Enabling debugging... Deleting course id 6 Course name: Course 2 for MDL- 74991 Short name: Course 2 for MDL- 74991   Are you sure you wish to delete this course? (y/N) : y instantiating backup controller a30499349ab6e94f70014f9d7fb94458 setting controller status to 100 loading controller plan setting controller status to 300 applying plan defaults setting controller status to 400 setting file inclusion to checking plan security setting controller status to 700 saving controller to db calculating controller checksum 30bea806d68b14b0cdbf079f1540e01c loading controller from db setting file inclusion to 1 setting controller status to 800 saving controller to db calculating controller checksum 83b692a6472ba2f7adc344519fee7903 loading controller from db setting controller status to 1000 saving controller to db ++ Deleted - Completion tracking ++ ++ Deleted - Grades, Items, Categories ++ ++ Deleted - Outcomes ++ ++ Deleted - Scales ++ ++ Deleted - Settings ++ ++ Deleted - Letters ++ ++ Deleted - Blocks ++ ++ Deleted - Assignment ++ ++ Deleted - Forum ++ ++ Deleted - Page ++ ++ Deleted - File ++ ++ Deleted - Activity modules ++ ++ Deleted - Questions ++ ++ Deleted - Content bank ++ ++ Deleted - Enrolment methods ++ ++ Deleted - Groupings ++ ++ Deleted - Groups ++ Updating course count in categories... Done! Confirm , that debugging messages for the course backup were printed and the course was successfully deleted. Delete the third test course via CLI with enabled debugging and disabled recycle bin (replace 7 by your course id): root @6a74e8efd623 :/var/www/vanilla-moodle-master# php admin/cli/delete_course.php --courseid= 7 --showdebugging --disablerecyclebin Enabling debugging... Deleting course id 7 Course name: Course 3 for MDL- 74991 Short name: Course 3 for MDL- 74991   Are you sure you wish to delete this course? (y/N) : y Disabling recycle bin... ++ Deleted - Completion tracking ++ ++ Deleted - Grades, Items, Categories ++ ++ Deleted - Outcomes ++ ++ Deleted - Scales ++ ++ Deleted - Settings ++ ++ Deleted - Letters ++ ++ Deleted - Blocks ++ ++ Deleted - Assignment ++ ++ Deleted - Forum ++ ++ Deleted - Page ++ ++ Deleted - File ++ ++ Deleted - Activity modules ++ ++ Deleted - Questions ++ ++ Deleted - Content bank ++ ++ Deleted - Enrolment methods ++ ++ Deleted - Groupings ++ ++ Deleted - Groups ++ Updating course count in categories... Done! Confirm , that backup wasn't taken and the course was successfully deleted. Run the command to delete the last course one more time: root @6a74e8efd623 :/var/www/vanilla-moodle-master# php admin/cli/delete_course.php --courseid= 7 Course not found Confirm , that Course not found message is printed.