def deleteOldDocuments(*args): now = datetime.datetime.now() - datetime.timedelta(hours=6) IndexReader = writer.getReader() for i in IndexReader.maxDoc(): if IndexReader.isDeleted(i): continue doc = IndexReader.document(i) date = doc.get("creation_date") realDate = datetime.datetime.strptime(str(date), "%a %b %d %H:%M:%S") if now > realDate: IndexReader.deleteDocument(i) writer.optimize() writer.commit()