MONGOC_COLLECTION_DELETE_MANY(3)

💅 MONGOC_COLLECTION_DELETE_MANY(3) — a libmongoc page 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

          bool
          mongoc_collection_delete_many (mongoc_collection_t *collection,
                                         const bson_t *selector,
                                         const bson_t *opts,
                                         bson_t *reply,
                                         bson_error_t *error);

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• collection — a mongoc_collection_t. It's the collection you're about to clean out, bestie 💖
• selector — a bson_t containing the query to match documents. This is the vibe check for which docs get deleted.
• reply — a maybe-NULL pointer to overwritable storage for a bson_t to contain the results. Optional output spot, no pressure.
• error — an optional location for a bson_error_t or NULL. Pass NULL if you're feeling fearless 🙈

Now, opts may be NULL or a BSON document with additional command options, and here's the whole menu:

• writeConcern — Construct a mongoc_write_concern_t and use mongoc_write_concern_append() to add the write concern to opts. See the example code for mongoc_client_write_command_with_opts().
• sessionId — First, construct a mongoc_client_session_t with mongoc_client_start_session(). You can begin a transaction with mongoc_client_session_start_transaction(), optionally with a mongoc_transaction_opt_t that overrides the options inherited from collection, and use mongoc_client_session_append() to add the session to opts. See the example code for mongoc_client_session_t.
• validate — Construct a bitwise-or of all desired bson_validate_flags_t. Set to false to skip client-side validation of the provided BSON documents.
• comment — A bson_value_t specifying the comment to attach to this command. The comment will appear in log messages, profiler output, and currentOp output. Requires MongoDB 4.4 or later.
• collation — Configure textual comparisons. See Setting Collation Order, and the MongoDB Manual entry on Collation. Collation requires MongoDB 3.2 or later, otherwise an error is returned.
• hint — A document or string that specifies the index to use to support the query predicate.
• let — A BSON document consisting of any number of parameter names, each followed by definitions of constants in the MQL Aggregate Expression language.

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

Okay so this function removes all documents in the given collection that match selector. It's giving full-sweep energy, not a one-doc situation. 🧹✨

To delete at most one matching document, use mongoc_collection_delete_one() — that's the "just one, please" version.

If you pass a non-NULL reply, it is filled out with the field "deletedCount". If there is a server error then reply contains either a "writeErrors" array with one subdocument or a "writeConcernErrors" array. The reply must be freed with bson_destroy().

bestie, do not ghost your memory: if you passed a non-NULL reply, it must be freed with bson_destroy(). periodt 💀

😭 ERRORS 😭

Errors are propagated via the error parameter. That's the whole point of it — if something goes wrong, it comes back through error.

🫶 RETURNS 🫶

Returns true if successful. Returns false and sets error if there are invalid arguments or a server or network error. Simple, iconic, done 👑

👑 AUTHOR 👑

MongoDB, Inc

🌈 COPYRIGHT 🌈

2009-present, MongoDB, Inc.

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mwah 💋 this libmongoc page is version 2.5.6, dated Oct 09, 2026 — now go forth and delete responsibly, bestie 🫶✨