Deleting multiple entries from a table via SE16 ??

As the title says, the content of this article covers how to delete multiple entries from a table using SE16.

Disclaimer (very important):

1. I am writing this article for learning purposes, therefore please understand the risk associated with deleting entries from a standard table, especially in production environment.
2. If you ever need to do so, make sure to try it yourself in a lower environment as well, because once an entry is deleted, it's gone forever - literally poof.

I hope you understand the risk.

For this demo, I'll use a custom table I created which currently have five entries as shown below.

Now, let's jump into the actual process of deleting entries in bulk from SE16.

• Access the table you want to work with in transaction SE16

• Populate the search criteria with the fields you want to delete: This step will ensure that only those entries will be deleted which are being accessed using SE16. Here, you can see I'm searching for 3 entries to delete.

• Select all the displayed entries (very important to make it work)

• In the transaction bar, enter the transaction /h and press ENTER and then press F7: This step will trigger the debugger. Pressing F7 will trigger display of the selected entries in form view. Make sure to press F7 after pressing ENTER.

• Set a breakpoint using breakpoint button or by pressing F9

Create the breakpoint for Source Code in program SAPLSLVC_FULLSCREEN for include LSLVC_FULLSCREENF01 at line 1076 and press Continue (or green check).

Make sure to put the screen no. to empty

Once the breakpoint is created, a message will be received in the bottom of the screen saying Breakpoint Set

• Trigger the created breakpoint by pressing F8

• Update the value of variable OK_CODE to DEL5 and initiate the action delete all.

To do so, in line 1076, double click on variable OK_CODE. Click on the pencil icon to edit the value of variable OK_CODE and change the value to DEL5 Press Continue or F8

These steps will initiate the delete all action.

This will generate a pop-up window confirming to delete all values from the database.

• Click YES to delete all values.

• Once done, the displayed entries will disappear as they are deleted

Now after this rechecking the table for no of remaining entries. One could see only 2 entries are remaining and the previously deleted entries does not exist anymore.

And this is how multiple entries are deleted from SE16.

Unfortunately, in my research, I couldn't find a way to create and update multiple entries at once using SE16. If you happened to know a way, please share the same.

Once again, the idea behind sharing this article was purely for learning purposes. If you ever need to use this technique, please try it in a lower environment first and please understand the risk associated with this.

I hope you enjoyed the article.

That would be all for today.

Have a great day, keep learning and keep sharing ??.