private ByteBuffer processAsciiCommand(ByteBuffer buffer, Cache cache) {
    CharBuffer flb = getFirstLineBuffer();
    getAsciiDecoder().reset();
    getAsciiDecoder().decode(buffer, flb, false);
    flb.flip();
    String firstLine = getFirstLine();
    String[] firstLineElements = firstLine.split(" ");

    assert "delete".equals(firstLineElements[0]);
    String key = stripNewline(firstLineElements[1]);
    boolean noReply = firstLineElements.length > 2;
    Region<Object, ValueWrapper> r = getMemcachedRegion(cache);
    String reply = null;
    try {
      r.destroy(key);
      reply = Reply.DELETED.toString();
    } catch (EntryNotFoundException e) {
      reply = Reply.NOT_FOUND.toString();
    }
    return noReply ? null : asciiCharset.encode(reply);
  }
The command "delete" allows for explicit deletion of items: delete <key> [noreply]\r\n
geode-memcached/src/main/java/org/apache/geode/internal/memcached/commands/DeleteCommand.java