def delete(self, record_key):
        
        ''' a method to delete a record from S3

        :param record_key: string with key of record
        :return: string reporting outcome
        '''
    
        title = '%s.delete' % self.__class__.__name__
    
    # validate inputs
        input_fields = {
            'record_key': record_key
        }
        for key, value in input_fields.items():
            object_title = '%s(%s=%s)' % (title, key, str(value))
            self.fields.validate(value, '.%s' % key, object_title)
    
    # delete record
        try:
            self.s3.delete_record(self.bucket_name, record_key)
        except:
            if not self.exists(record_key):
                exit_msg = '%s does not exist.' % record_key
                return exit_msg
            raise
        
        exit_msg = '%s has been deleted.' % record_key
        return exit_msg
a method to delete a record from S3

        :param record_key: string with key of record
        :return: string reporting outcome