Sql server - recursive delete

Question

I\'m trying to delete user\'s data and all it\'s related data that is located in different tables. All the tables have Foreign Keys but without cascade delete.

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Answer 1

Those are the best and most efficient ones. For production queries I would use 2.

The only other ways I can think of would (IMO) only be suitable for quick and dirty removal of data in a test environment (avoiding the need to analyse the correct order)

1. Disable all FKs delete the desired data then re-enable the FKs. This is inefficient as they need to be re-enabled WITH CHECK to avoid leaving the FKs in an untrusted state which means that all preserved data needs to be re-validated.
2. List out all DELETE statements on affected tables in arbitrary order and run the batch as many times as necessary until it succeeds with no FK errors.