Delete Content Types using PowerShell

Question

I am new to PowerShell script. I am trying to run this specific script using .ps1 but received an error. Where do I put our SharePoint URL and the Content Type name in the script. Here is the script below:

$sitename = $args[0]
$contentType = $args[1]

$web = Get-SPWeb $sitename
$ct = $web.ContentTypes[$contentType]

if ($ct) {
$ctusage = [Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentTypeUsage]::GetUsages($ct)
  foreach ($ctuse in $ctusage) {
        $list = $web.GetList($ctuse.Url)
        $contentTypeCollection = $list.ContentTypes;
        $contentTypeCollection.Delete($contentTypeCollection[$ContentType].Id);
        Write-host "Deleted $contentType content type from $ctuse.Url"
        }
$ct.Delete()
Write-host "Deleted $contentType from site."

} else { Write-host "Nothing to delete." }

$web.Dispose()

Thanks for your help!

Matthew

Answer 1

You need to pass the values in as arguments to the script.

The first argument is the site URL, the second is the content type name.

See http://www.powershell.nu/2009/12/16/running-scripts-with-arguments-in-powershell/ for examples of how to do this, depending on how you invoke the script.

Answer 2

You have to add the following snippet at the top of your code:

Param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=1)]
    [string]$sitename ,
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, Position=2)]
    [string]$contentType
)

Be careful, nothing should be addbefore this, except comments. The snippet allows the script to get input parameters entered by the user. You can also use it like this:

your_powershell_script.ps1 <http://your_site_name> <your_content_type_name>