diff --git a/archivebox/purge.py b/archivebox/purge.py
index 55ba6fb6..26b18817 100755
--- a/archivebox/purge.py
+++ b/archivebox/purge.py
@@ -1,54 +1,86 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-import argparse
+
 import re
+from argparse import ArgumentParser
+from os.path import exists, join
+from shutil import rmtree
 from typing import List
 
 from archive import parse_json_link_index
-from config import OUTPUT_DIR
-from index import write_json_links_index
+from config import ARCHIVE_DIR, OUTPUT_DIR
+from index import write_html_links_index, write_json_links_index
 
 
-def cleanup_index(patterns: List[str], yes=False):
-    regexes = [re.compile(p) for p in patterns]
-
-    index = parse_json_link_index(OUTPUT_DIR)
-    links = index['links']
+def cleanup_index(regexes: List[str], proceed: bool, delete: bool) -> None:
+    if not exists(join(OUTPUT_DIR, 'index.json')):
+        exit('index.json is missing; nothing to do')
 
+    compiled = [re.compile(r) for r in regexes]
+    links = parse_json_link_index(OUTPUT_DIR)['links']
     filtered = []
     remaining = []
+
     for l in links:
         url = l['url']
-        for r in regexes:
+        for r in compiled:
             if r.search(url):
                 filtered.append((l, r))
                 break
         else:
             remaining.append(l)
 
+    if not filtered:
+        exit('Search did not match any entries.')
+
+    print('Filtered out {}/{} urls:'.format(len(filtered), len(links)))
 
-    print("Filtered out {}/{} urls:".format(len(filtered), len(links)))
     for link, regex in filtered:
         url = link['url']
-        print(" {url} via {regex}".format(url=url, regex=regex.pattern))
+        print(' {url} via {regex}'.format(url=url, regex=regex.pattern))
 
-    proceed = False
-    if yes:
-        proceed = True
-    else:
-        res = input("Remove {} entries from index? [y/n] ".format(len(filtered)))
-        proceed = res.strip().lower() in ('y', 'yes')
+    if not proceed:
+        answer = input('Remove {} entries from index? [y/n] '.format(
+            len(filtered)))
+        proceed = answer.strip().lower() in ('y', 'yes')
 
-    if proceed:
-        write_json_links_index(OUTPUT_DIR, remaining)
-    else:
-        exit('aborting')
+    if not proceed:
+        exit('Aborted')
+
+    write_json_links_index(OUTPUT_DIR, remaining)
+    write_html_links_index(OUTPUT_DIR, remaining)
+
+    if delete:
+        for link, _ in filtered:
+            data_dir = join(ARCHIVE_DIR, link['timestamp'])
+            if exists(data_dir):
+                rmtree(data_dir)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    p = argparse.ArgumentParser('Index purging tool')
-    p.add_argument('--regex', '-r', action='append', help='Python regex to filter out')
-    p.add_argument('--yes', action='store_true', default=False, help='Do not propmpt for confirmation')
+    p = ArgumentParser('Index purging tool')
+    p.add_argument(
+        '--regex',
+        '-r',
+        action='append',
+        help='Regular expression matching URLs to purge',
+    )
+    p.add_argument(
+        '--delete',
+        '-d',
+        action='store_true',
+        default=False,
+        help='Delete webpage files from archive',
+    )
+    p.add_argument(
+        '--yes',
+        '-y',
+        action='store_true',
+        default=False,
+        help='Do not prompt for confirmation',
+    )
 
     args = p.parse_args()
-    regexes = args.regex
-    cleanup_index(regexes, yes=args.yes)
+    if args.regex:
+        cleanup_index(args.regex, proceed=args.yes, delete=args.delete)
+    else:
+        p.print_help()