Removing an XWPFParagraph keeps the paragraph symbol (¶) for it

Question

I am trying to remove a set of contiguous paragraphs from a Microsoft Word document, using Apache POI.

From what I have understood, deleting a paragraph is possible by removing all of its runs, this way:

/*
 * Deletes the given paragraph.
 */
public static void deleteParagraph(XWPFParagraph p) {
    if (p != null) {
        List<XWPFRun> runs = p.getRuns();
        //Delete all the runs
        for (int i = runs.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
            p.removeRun(i);
        }
        p.setPageBreak(false); //Remove the eventual page break
    }
}

In fact, it works, but there's something strange. The block of removed paragraphs does not disappear from the document, but it's converted in a set of empty lines. It's just like every paragraph would be converted into a new line.

By printing the paragraphs' content from code I can see, in fact, a space (for each one removed). Looking at the content directly from the document, with the formatting mark's visualization enabled, I can see this:

The vertical column of ¶ corresponds to the block of deleted elements.

Do you have an idea for that? I'd like my paragraphs to be completely removed.

I also tried by replacing the text (with setText()) and by removing eventual spaces that could be added automatically, this way:

p.setSpacingAfter(0);
p.setSpacingAfterLines(0);
p.setSpacingBefore(0);
p.setSpacingBeforeLines(0);
p.setIndentFromLeft(0);
p.setIndentFromRight(0);
p.setIndentationFirstLine(0);
p.setIndentationLeft(0);
p.setIndentationRight(0);

But with no luck.

Answer 1

When you are inside of a table you need to use the functions of the XWPFTableCell instead of the XWPFDocument:

cell.removeParagraph(cell.getParagraphs().indexOf(para));