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

You may also use this to delete a folder that contains subfolders and files.

1. Fist, create a recursive function.

    private void recursiveDelete(File file){
   
            if(file.list().length > 0){
                String[] list = file.list();
                for(String is: list){
                    File currentFile = new File(file.getPath(),is);
                    if(currentFile.isDirectory()){
                            recursiveDelete(currentFile);
                    }else{
                        currentFile.delete();
                    }
                }
            }else {
                file.delete();
            }
        }
   

2. then, from your initial function use a while loop to call the recursive.

    private boolean deleteFolderContainingSubFoldersAndFiles(){
   
            boolean deleted = false;
            File folderToDelete = new File("C:/mainFolderDirectoryHere");
   
            while(folderToDelete != null && folderToDelete.isDirectory()){
                recursiveDelete(folderToDelete);
            }
   
            return deleted;
        }
   

Answer 2

I like this solution the most. It does not use 3rd party library, instead it uses NIO2 of Java 7.

/**
 * Deletes Folder with all of its content
 *
 * @param folder path to folder which should be deleted
 */
public static void deleteFolderAndItsContent(final Path folder) throws IOException {
    Files.walkFileTree(folder, new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>() {
        @Override
        public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs) throws IOException {
            Files.delete(file);
            return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
        }

        @Override
        public FileVisitResult postVisitDirectory(Path dir, IOException exc) throws IOException {
            if (exc != null) {
                throw exc;
            }
            Files.delete(dir);
            return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
        }
    });
}

Answer 3

You can use FileUtils.deleteDirectory. JAVA can't delete the non-empty foldres with File.delete().

Answer 4

Java isn't able to delete folders with data in it. You have to delete all files before deleting the folder.

Use something like:

String[]entries = index.list();
for(String s: entries){
    File currentFile = new File(index.getPath(),s);
    currentFile.delete();
}

Then you should be able to delete the folder by using index.delete() Untested!