AS#3 Array is not clearing its contents - actionscript-3

Question

Firstly i will briefly explain:
I have 2 Arrays, the first Array:holder, the second Array:Clips.
The first array was dynamic empty boxes as a Grid pattern through a loop pushing each item into an array and adding to the stage// just for the locations x,y
The Second array:Clips are dynamically loaded SWF Movies, 10 all together
These loaded SWF clips are "addChild" into the Holder Array, so these clips will be in the grid pattern and at the same time pushed into the array Clips, for reference example
Clips[1].x = 50 ; // this works fine
so i know my clips are in there, reference correctly. But what icant seem to do is remove all contents from array:Clips
var len:int = Clips.length;
for( var i:int = 0; i < len; i++ ) {
this.removeChild( Clips[i] ) ;
}
i have tried splice aswell with same result just either throws errors or does nothing, either way my items are not deleting / removed off staged.
easy way to explain i load 15 items in an array, everytime the button is pressed i want clear that array and re-populate with another 15 items this happens every 10 seconds for ever..
I can repopulate no problem it will keep loading more stuff over the old content but i want the old content to be cleared

Answer 1

To prevent errors, amend your condition:
if(this.contains(Clips[i]){
this.removeChild(Clips[i]);
}
If it's still not working, you may be removing from the wrong clip, ie not 'this' - try this:
if(Clips[i] != null && Clips[i].parent != null){
Clips[i].parent.removeChild(Clips[i]);
}
(Clips[i] != null part of condition added to check for error cropping up in comments below)
This checks if the clip has a parent specified (if it does, it's inside another clip) and removes it from that clip specifically, not just 'this'.
..and I'd also suggest using a Vector, rather than an Array - you can put any kind of value into an array, so if you put a non-DisplayObject in there you'll get an error when you try to remove if from the stage:
var clips:Vector.<DisplayObject> = new Vector.<DisplayObject>();
rather than:
var clips:Array = [];
Apart from the bulky declaration above, this functions exactly like an array in most respects (functions like push, splice, reference elements with square-bracket notation eg clips[0] etc), but will only let you put certain types of object/variable in it - in this case, DisplayObject. If you try to put an 'int' in there, it won't let you - it also runs a lot faster! They're worth using in any case, but here they may help just in case you've put something else in that array without realising (I've done it plenty of times).
Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Try this. If it works then it means you are trying to remove the child from the wrong parent. That being the case you should be receiving runtime errors. If the following code does not cause errors but there is still content on the screen then you have code somewhere duplicating content. This can happen if the code that does the loading gets called twice.
var len:int = Clips.length;
for( var i:int = 0; i < len; i++ ) {
Clips[i].parent.removeChild(Clips[i]);
}