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

If you have subfolders, you will find troubles with the Cemron answers. so you should create a method that works like this:

private void deleteTempFile(File tempFile) {
        try
        {
            if(tempFile.isDirectory()){
               File[] entries = tempFile.listFiles();
               for(File currentFile: entries){
                   deleteTempFile(currentFile);
               }
               tempFile.delete();
            }else{
               tempFile.delete();
            }
        getLogger().info("DELETED Temporal File: " + tempFile.getPath());
        }
        catch(Throwable t)
        {
            getLogger().error("Could not DELETE file: " + tempFile.getPath(), t);
        }
    }

Answer 2

Remove it from else part

File index = new File("/home/Work/Indexer1");
if (!index.exists())
{
     index.mkdir();
     System.out.println("Dir Not present. Creating new one!");
}
index.delete();
System.out.println("File deleted successfully");

Answer 3

        import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;

        List<String> directory =  new ArrayList(); 
        directory.add("test-output"); 
        directory.add("Reports/executions"); 
        directory.add("Reports/index.html"); 
        directory.add("Reports/report.properties"); 
        for(int count = 0 ; count < directory.size() ; count ++)
        {
        String destination = directory.get(count);
        deleteDirectory(destination);
        }





      public void deleteDirectory(String path) {

        File file  = new File(path);
        if(file.isDirectory()){
             System.out.println("Deleting Directory :" + path);
            try {
                FileUtils.deleteDirectory(new File(path)); //deletes the whole folder
            } catch (IOException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
        else {
        System.out.println("Deleting File :" + path);
            //it is a simple file. Proceed for deletion
            file.delete();
        }

    }

Works like a Charm . For both folder and files . Salam :)

Answer 4

This is the best solution for Java 7+:

public static void deleteDirectory(String directoryFilePath) throws IOException
{
    Path directory = Paths.get(directoryFilePath);

    if (Files.exists(directory))
    {
        Files.walkFileTree(directory, new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>()
        {
            @Override
            public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path path, BasicFileAttributes basicFileAttributes) throws IOException
            {
                Files.delete(path);
                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
            }

            @Override
            public FileVisitResult postVisitDirectory(Path directory, IOException ioException) throws IOException
            {
                Files.delete(directory);
                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
            }
        });
    }
}

Answer 5

2020 here :)

With Apache commons io FileUtils, contrary to the "pure" Java variants a folder does not need to be empty to be deleted. To give you a better overview I list the variants here, the following 3 may throw exceptions for various reasons:

• cleanDirectory: Cleans a directory without deleting it
• forceDelete: Deletes a file. If file is a directory, delete it and all sub-directories
• forceDeleteOnExit: Schedules a file to be deleted when JVM exits. If file is directory delete it and all sub-directories. Not recommended for running servers as JVM may not exit any time soon ...

The following variant never throws exceptions (even if the file is null !)

• deleteQuietly: Deletes a file, never throwing an exception. If file is a directory, delete it and all sub-directories.

One more thing to know is dealing with symbolic links, it will delete the symbolic link and not the target folder... be careful.

Also keep in mind that deleting a large file or folder can be a blocking operation for a good while ... so if you do not mind having it run async do it (in a background thread via executor for example).

Answer 6

we can use the spring-core dependency;

boolean result = FileSystemUtils.deleteRecursively(file);