instance method delete_all

Deletes all the records from the collection according to the strategy specified by the :dependent option. If no :dependent option is given, then it will follow the default strategy.

For has_many :through associations, the default deletion strategy is :delete_all.

For has_many associations, the default deletion strategy is :nullify. This sets the foreign keys to NULL.

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :pets # dependent: :nullify option by default
end

person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
#       #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
#       #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
#       #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
#    ]

person.pets.delete_all
# => [
#       #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
#       #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
#       #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
#    ]

person.pets.size # => 0
person.pets      # => []

Pet.find(1, 2, 3)
# => [
#       #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: nil>,
#       #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: nil>,
#       #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: nil>
#    ]

Both has_many and has_many :through dependencies default to the :delete_all strategy if the :dependent option is set to :destroy. Records are not instantiated and callbacks will not be fired.

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :pets, dependent: :destroy
end

person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
#       #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
#       #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
#       #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
#    ]

person.pets.delete_all

Pet.find(1, 2, 3)
# => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find all Pets with 'id': (1, 2, 3)

If it is set to :delete_all, all the objects are deleted without calling their destroy method.

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :pets, dependent: :delete_all
end

person.pets.size # => 3
person.pets
# => [
#       #<Pet id: 1, name: "Fancy-Fancy", person_id: 1>,
#       #<Pet id: 2, name: "Spook", person_id: 1>,
#       #<Pet id: 3, name: "Choo-Choo", person_id: 1>
#    ]

person.pets.delete_all

Pet.find(1, 2, 3)
# => ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Couldn't find all Pets with 'id': (1, 2, 3)