Improve variable_del() by adding another function: variable_del_prefix()

setting proper states.

I think you should remove the wildcard functionality from variable_del() for now. New features will not go into Drupal 5 anymore. We also discussed the exact modification to variable_del() some weeks ago and it was rejected.

Marking as duplicate of #138544: Allow multiple variable deletes in variable_del()

+1

Using of #138544: Allow multiple variable deletes in variable_del() is stupid. This solution is more powerful.

I've looked at this patch and it will need more than porting. I like the feature idea, but I think we need to start from scratch on how to implement.

Proper status.

Downgrading all D8 criticals to major per http://drupal.org/node/45111

As per #6: Add a function called variable_del_prefix($prefix). Thus variables named mymodule_foo and mymodule_bar would both be deleted by calling variable_del_prefix('mymodule_');

This has a few main benefits:

1) You can delete all variables in your namespace in one go, without potentially demolishing anything else if you have the wrong wildcard somewhere.

2) It imposes (in a very small way) a best practice on developers, such that they standardize their variable names for convenience in hook_uninstall().

3) It could be refactored for efficiency after #138544: Allow multiple variable deletes in variable_del() finally happens.

4) Easy backport to D7. Which I'd really like to see. Please. O please.

I actually think this is a bad idea as it could easily blow away unintended variables.

"I actually think this is a bad idea as it could easily blow away unintended variables."

Which unintended variables would those be? The ones that someone else set with my module name as their namespace? variable_del() suffers from the same problem. :-)

views vs. views_bulk_operations
image vs. imagecache.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is no longer a thing.

Yes we can call this a duplicate of state/CMI.