How to delete a folder with files using Java

Question

I want to create and delete a directory using Java, but it isn\'t working.

File index = new File(\"/home/Work/Indexer1\");
if (!index.exists()) {
    index.m         


        

Answer 1

In JDK 7 you could use Files.walkFileTree() and Files.deleteIfExists() to delete a tree of files. (Sample: http://fahdshariff.blogspot.ru/2011/08/java-7-deleting-directory-by-walking.html)

In JDK 6 one possible way is to use FileUtils.deleteQuietly from Apache Commons which will remove a file, a directory, or a directory with files and sub-directories.

Answer 2

I prefer this solution on java 8:

  Files.walk(pathToBeDeleted)
    .sorted(Comparator.reverseOrder())
    .map(Path::toFile)
    .forEach(File::delete);

From this site: http://www.baeldung.com/java-delete-directory

Answer 3

Guava 21+ to the rescue. Use only if there are no symlinks pointing out of the directory to delete.

com.google.common.io.MoreFiles.deleteRecursively(
      file.toPath(),
      RecursiveDeleteOption.ALLOW_INSECURE
) ;

(This question is well-indexed by Google, so other people usig Guava might be happy to find this answer, even if it is redundant with other answers elsewhere.)

Answer 4

You can make recursive call if sub directories exists

import java.io.File;

class DeleteDir {
public static void main(String args[]) {
deleteDirectory(new File(args[0]));
}

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() );
}
}

Answer 5

Some of these answers seem unnecessarily long:

if (directory.exists()) {
    for (File file : directory.listFiles()) {
        file.delete();
    }
    directory.delete();
}

Works for sub directories too.

Answer 6

My basic recursive version, working with older versions of JDK:

public static void deleteFile(File element) {
    if (element.isDirectory()) {
        for (File sub : element.listFiles()) {
            deleteFile(sub);
        }
    }
    element.delete();
}