How to efficiently delete all files in a document library?

Question

I am looking for a clear, complete example of programmatically deleting all documents from a specific document library, via the Sharepoint object model. The doclib does not contain folders. I am looking to delete the documents completely (ie I don't want them in the Recycle Bin).

I know of SPWeb.ProcessBatchData, but somehow it never seems to work for me.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I would persevere with the ProcessBatchData approach, maybe this will help:

Vincent Rothwell has covered this best: http://blog.thekid.me.uk/archive/2007/02/24/deleting-a-considerable-number-of-items-from-a-list-in-sharepoint.aspx

Otherwise I'm not sure the other recommendation will work, as a Foreach loop will not like that the number of items in the collection changes with each delete.

You are probably best placed doing a reverse for loop (I didn't test this code, just an example):

for (int i = SPItems.Length - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{
    SPListItem item = SPItems[i];
    item.File.Delete();
}

Answer 2

This is not the right way of deleting items. Follow post here http://praveenbattula.blogspot.com/2009/05/deleting-list-items-at-time-from-list.html

Answer 3

You just have to go through all the files of your Document Library.

foreach(SPListItem item in SPContext.Current.Web.Lists["YourDocLibName"].Items)
{
    //TODO: Verify that the file is not checked-out before deleting
    item.File.Delete();
}

Calling the delete method on a file from the API doesn't use the recycle bin. It's a straight delete. You still need to verify that the file is not checked-out.

Here is some reference:

• SPList
• SPListItem
• SPFile

Answer 4

Powershell way:

function ProcessFolder {
    param($folderUrl)
    $folder = $web.GetFolder($folderUrl)
    foreach ($file in $folder.Files) {
        #Ensure destination directory
        $destinationfolder = $destination + "/" + $folder.Url 
        if (!(Test-Path -path $destinationfolder))
        {
            $dest = New-Item $destinationfolder -type directory 
        }
         #Delete file by deleting parent SPListItem
        $list.Items.DeleteItemById($file.Item.Id)
    }
}

#Delete root Files
ProcessFolder($list.RootFolder.Url)

#Delete files from Folders or Document Sets
foreach ($folder in $list.Folders) {
    ProcessFolder($folder.Url)
}