Batch file. Delete all files and folders in a directory

Question

I want to have a batch file that will delete all the folders and files in my cache folder for my wireless toolkit.

Currently I have the following:

cd         


        

Answer 1

You could use robocopy to mirror an empty folder to the folder you are clearing.

robocopy "C:\temp\empty" "C:\temp\target" /E /MIR

It also works if you can't remove or recreate the actual folder.

It does require an existing empty directory.

Answer 2

You cannot delete everything with either rmdir or del alone:

• rmdir /s /q does not accept wildcard params. So rmdir /s /q * will error.
• del /s /f /q will delete all files, but empty subdirectories will remain.

My preferred solution (as I have used in many other batch files) is:

rmdir /s /q . 2>NUL

Answer 3

You can do this using del and the /S flag (to tell it to recurse all files from all subdirectories):

del /S C:\Path\to\directory\*

The RD command can also be used. Recursively delete quietly without a prompt:

@RD /S /Q %VAR_PATH%

Rmdir (rd)

Answer 4

I just put this together from what morty346 posted:

set folder="C:\test"
IF EXIST "%folder%" (
    cd /d %folder%
    for /F "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b') do (rmdir "%%i" /s/q || del "%%i" /s/q)
)

It adds a quick check that the folder defined in the variable exists first, changes directory to the folder, and deletes the contents.

Answer 5

Just a modified version of GregM's answer:

set folder="C:\test"
cd /D %folder%
if NOT %errorlevel% == 0 (exit /b 1)
echo Entire content of %cd% will be deleted. Press Ctrl-C to abort
pause

REM First the directories /ad option of dir
for /F "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b /ad') do (echo rmdir "%%i" /s/q)

REM Now the files /a-d option of dir
for /F "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b /a-d') do (echo del "%%i" /q)

REM To deactivate simulation mode remove the word 'echo' before 'rmdir' and 'del'.

Answer 6

Use:

• Create a batch file

• Copy the below text into the batch file

  set folder="C:\test"
  cd /d %folder%
  for /F "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b') do (rmdir "%%i" /s/q || del "%%i" /s/q)
  

It will delete all files and folders.