How to clear a YouTube playlist with Python and YouTube API

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to clear a YouTube playlist using YouTube Data API in Python.

So, there are couple reasons you why may want to delete videos to empty out a playlist instead of deleting a playlist and recreate a new one. For one, some people want to reserve the SEO ranking of their playlist, or they don’t want to rewrite all the description, tags in a playlist.

Buy Me a Coffee? Your support is much appreciated!

PayPal Me: https://www.paypal.me/jiejenn/5
Venmo: @Jie-Jenn

Source Code:

from Google import Create_Service

CLIENT_SECRET_FILE  =  'client_secret_JJHosting.json'
API_NAME  =  'youtube'
API_VERSION  =  'v3'
SCOPES  = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube']

service =  Create_Service(CLIENT_SECRET_FILE, API_NAME, API_VERSION, SCOPES)

playlist_id = 'PLuY8q4qTCV9lamFVNd1rX1c8FIQi0Spio'

response = service.playlistItems().list(
    part='contentDetails',
    playlistId=playlist_id,
    maxResults=50
).execute()

playlistItems = response['items']
nextPageToken = response.get('nextPageToken')

while nextPageToken:
    response = service.playlistItems().list(
        part='contentDetails',
        playlistId=playlist_id,
        maxResults=50,
        pageToken=nextPageToken
    ).execute()

    playlistItems.extend(response['items'])
    nextPageToken = response.get('nextPageToken')

for item in playlistItems:
    print('Deleting {0}'.format(item['id']))
    service.playlistItems().delete(id=item['id']).execute()

print('Process complete')

Google.py source code:

import pickle
import os
from google_auth_oauthlib.flow import Flow, InstalledAppFlow
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from googleapiclient.http import MediaFileUpload, MediaIoBaseDownload
from google.auth.transport.requests import Request


def Create_Service(client_secret_file, api_name, api_version, *scopes):
    print(client_secret_file, api_name, api_version, scopes, sep='-')
    CLIENT_SECRET_FILE = client_secret_file
    API_SERVICE_NAME = api_name
    API_VERSION = api_version
    SCOPES = [scope for scope in scopes[0]]
    print(SCOPES)

    cred = None

    pickle_file = f'token_{API_SERVICE_NAME}_{API_VERSION}.pickle'
    # print(pickle_file)

    if os.path.exists(pickle_file):
        with open(pickle_file, 'rb') as token:
            cred = pickle.load(token)

    if not cred or not cred.valid:
        if cred and cred.expired and cred.refresh_token:
            cred.refresh(Request())
        else:
            flow = InstalledAppFlow.from_client_secrets_file(CLIENT_SECRET_FILE, SCOPES)
            cred = flow.run_local_server()

        with open(pickle_file, 'wb') as token:
            pickle.dump(cred, token)

    try:
        service = build(API_SERVICE_NAME, API_VERSION, credentials=cred)
        print(API_SERVICE_NAME, 'service created successfully')
        return service
    except Exception as e:
        print(e)
        print(f'Failed to create service instance for {API_SERVICE_NAME}')
        os.remove(pickle_file)
        return None

def convert_to_RFC_datetime(year=1900, month=1, day=1, hour=0, minute=0):
    dt = datetime.datetime(year, month, day, hour, minute, 0).isoformat() + 'Z'
    return dt