Delete a List Using "forcedeletelist"

I’ve noticed a lot of people looking for a way to delete a list (based on search terms used to hit my blog). There’s a built in command called forcedeletelist which will do the trick. Note that there’s a bug with the help message for the command:

C:\>stsadm -help forcedeletelist

stsadm.exe -o forcedeleteweb
           -url <url>

Notice above that it says forcedeleteweb – have no fear though – it won’t delete your web – it’s just a typo in the help text. I’m not sure why they called it forcedeletelist instead of just deletelist – if you disassemble the command though you’ll see that it’s calling an internal method called ForceDeleteList on the SPWeb object – this in turn calls ForceDeleteList on the unmanaged SPRequestInternalClass object. If you’re looking for other list related operations check out these postings: Import, Export, and Copy Lists and Import, Export, Copy, and Delete List Items.