not able to delete the directory through Java

Question

In my application I have written the code to delete the directory from drive but when I inspect the delete function of File it doesn\'t delete the file. I have written some thin

Answer 1

in Java, directory deletion is possible only for empty directory, which leads to methods like the following :

/**
 * Force deletion of directory
 * @param path
 * @return
 */
static public boolean deleteDirectory(File path) {
    if (path.exists()) {
        File[] files = path.listFiles();
        for (int i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
            if (files[i].isDirectory()) {
                deleteDirectory(files[i]);
            } else {
                files[i].delete();
            }
        }
    }
    return (path.delete());
}

This one will delete your folder, even if non-empty, without troubles (excepted when this directory is locked by OS).

Answer 2

Looking at the docs:

If this pathname denotes a directory, then the directory must be empty in order to be deleted.

Did you make sure that the directory is empty (no hidden files either) ?

Answer 3

The directory must be empty to delete it. If it's not empty, you need to delete it recursively with File.listFiles() and File.delete()

Answer 4

Why to invent a wheel with methods to delete recursively? Take a look at apache commons io. https://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-io/javadocs/api-1.4/

FileUtils.deleteDirectory(dir);

OR

FileUtils.forceDelete(dir);

That is all you need. There is also plenty of useful methods to manipulate files...

Answer 5

Two other possibilities (besides the directory not being empty):

• The user which runs the java program does not have write/delete permission for the directory
• The directory is used/locked by a different process (you write that it's not, but how have you confirmed this?)