Manual:Pywikibot/delete.py

Wikimedia Git repository has this file: scripts/delete.py

This script can be used to delete and undelete pages en masse. You will need an admin account on the relevant wiki. Also add:

usernames['wikipedia']['en'] = 'adminname'

to user-config.py, where ['wikipedia'] is the name of the the family in which you are working on, and 'adminname' is the username.

Syntax:

$ python pwb.py delete [-cat:categoryName|-page:pageName|...] [-summary:"text"] [-undelete] [-always]

Arguments

-page: Delete specified page
-ref: Delete all pages referring from a given page.
-images: Delete all images used on a given page.
-cat: Delete all pages in the given category.
-links: Delete all pages linked from a given page.
-always Don't prompt to delete pages, just do it.
-summary: Supply a custom edit summary.
-undelete: Actually undelete pages instead of deleting. Works only with -page and -file.
-file: Delete all pages listed in a given text file. The list should be of the format
- # [[page1]]
- # [[page2]]
- etc.

Examples

Delete everything in the category "To delete" without prompting.

$ python pwb.py delete -cat:"To delete" -always

Delete everything in the pages linked to the page, without prompting.

$ python pwb.py delete "deletepage" -always

Delete everything in the speedy deletion category on the English Wikibooks.

$ python pwb.py delete -lang:en -family:wikibooks -cat:"Candidates for speedy deletion"

Delete pages inside a text file:

$ python pwb.py delete -file:nuke.txt -always -summary:"Because I feel like it"

The format of the text file should be as the following:

# [[Main Page]]
# [[Talk:Main Page]]

Restore pages:

$ python pwb.py delete -undelete -file:respawn.txt -summary:"It was a foolish mistake"

Global arguments available

These options will override the configuration in user-config.py settings.

Global options
Parameter	Description	Config variable
`-dir:PATH`	Read the bot's configuration data from directory given by PATH, instead of from the default directory.
`-config:file`	The user config filename. Default is user-config.py.	`user-config.py`
`-lang:xx`	Set the language of the wiki you want to work on, overriding the configuration in user-config.py. xx should be the language code.	`mylang`
`-family:xyz`	Set the family of the wiki you want to work on, e.g. wikipedia, wiktionary, wikitravel, ... This will override the configuration in user-config.py.	`family`
`-user:xyz`	Log in as user 'xyz' instead of the default username.	`usernames`
`-daemonize:xyz`	Immediately return control to the terminal and redirect stdout and stderr to file xyz. (only use for bots that require no input from stdin).
`-help`	Show the help text.
`-log`	Enable the log file, using the default filename 'script_name-bot.log' Logs will be stored in the logs subdirectory.	`log`
`-log:xyz`	Enable the log file, using 'xyz' as the filename.	`logfilename`
`-nolog`	Disable the log file (if it is enabled by default).
`-maxlag`	Sets a new maxlag parameter to a number of seconds. Defer bot edits during periods of database server lag. Default is set by config.py	`maxlag`
`-putthrottle:n` `-pt:n` `-put_throttle:n`	Set the minimum time (in seconds) the bot will wait between saving pages.	`put_throttle`
`-debug:item` `-debug`	Enable the log file and include extensive debugging data for component "item" (for all components if the second form is used).	`debug_log`
`-verbose` `-v`	Have the bot provide additional console output that may be useful in debugging.	`verbose_output`
`-cosmeticchanges` `-cc`	Toggles the cosmetic_changes setting made in config.py or user-config.py to its inverse and overrules it. All other settings and restrictions are untouched.	`cosmetic_changes`
`-simulate`	Disables writing to the server. Useful for testing and debugging of new code (if given, doesn't do any real changes, but only shows what would have been changed).	`simulate`
`-<config var>:n`	You may use all given numeric config variables as option and modify it with command line.