How to delete a folder in C++?

Question

How can I delete a folder using C++?

If no cross-platform way exists, then how to do it for the most-popular OSes - Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android? Would a POSIX

Answer 1

Use SHFileOperation to remove the folder recursivelly

Answer 2

I strongly advise to use Boost.FileSystem.

http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_38_0/libs/filesystem/doc/index.htm

In your case that would be

boost::filesystem::remove_all(yourPath)

Answer 3

The directory must be empty and your program must have permissions to delete it

but the function called rmdir will do it

rmdir("C:/Documents and Settings/user/Desktop/itsme") 

Answer 4

The C++ Standard defines the remove() function, which may or may not delete a folder, depending on implementation. If it doesn't you need to use an implementation specific function such as rmdir().

Answer 5

My own implementation based off hB0 that also allows you to view the number of files in each folder also with a little performance boost.

#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <cstdio>
#include <windows.h>
#include <conio.h>

union seperated {
  struct {
    unsigned int low;
    unsigned int high;
  } uint;
  unsigned long long ull;
};

unsigned long long num_dirs  = 1;
unsigned long long num_files = 0;
seperated size_files;

int DeleteDirectory( char* refRootDirectory );      //predeclare it

int DeleteDirectory( char* refRootDirectory ) {
    HANDLE      hFile;              // Handle to directory
    std::string strFilePath;            // Filepath
    WIN32_FIND_DATA FileInformation;    // File information
    int     dwError;            // Folder deleting error
    std::string strPattern;         // Pattern

    strPattern = (std::string)(refRootDirectory) + "\\*.*";
    hFile = ::FindFirstFile( strPattern.c_str(), &FileInformation );

    if( hFile != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE )
    {
        do {
            if( FileInformation.cFileName[0] != '.' ) {
                strFilePath.erase();
                strFilePath = std::string(refRootDirectory) + "\\" + FileInformation.cFileName;

                if( FileInformation.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY ) {
                    DeleteDirectory( (char*)strFilePath.c_str() );

                    dwError = ::GetLastError();
                    if( dwError != ERROR_NO_MORE_FILES ) {
                        std::cout << "!ERROR!: [[" << strFilePath.c_str() << "]]\n";
                        return dwError;
                    } else {
                        // Set directory attributes
                        if( ! ::SetFileAttributes(refRootDirectory,FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL) ) {
                            std::cout << "!ERROR!: [[" << strFilePath.c_str() << "]]\n";
                            return ::GetLastError();
                        }

                        // Delete directory
                        if( ! ::RemoveDirectory(refRootDirectory) ) {
                            std::cout << "!ERROR!: [[" << strFilePath.c_str() << "]]\n";
                            return ::GetLastError();
                        }
                    }

                    ++num_dirs;
                } else {

                    // Set file attributes
                    if( ! ::SetFileAttributes(strFilePath.c_str(),FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL) ) {
                        std::cout << "!ERROR!: [[" << strFilePath.c_str() << "]]\n";
                        return ::GetLastError();
                    }

                    // Delete file
                    if ( ! ::DeleteFile(strFilePath.c_str()) ) {
                        std::cout << "!ERROR!: [[" << strFilePath.c_str() << "]]\n";
                        return ::GetLastError();
                    }

                    size_files.ull       += FileInformation.nFileSizeLow;
                    size_files.uint.high += FileInformation.nFileSizeHigh;

                    ++num_files;
                }
            }
        } while( ::FindNextFile(hFile,&FileInformation) );

        // Close handle
        ::FindClose( hFile  );
    }

    return 0;
}

unsigned long long num_files_total=0;
unsigned long long num_dirs_total=0;
unsigned long long total_size_files=0;

void my_del_directory( char* dir_name ) {
    int iRC = DeleteDirectory( dir_name );
    //int iRC=0;

    std::cout << "\"" << dir_name << "\""
             "\n    Folders: " << num_dirs
          << "\n    Files:   " << num_files
          << "\n    Size:    " << size_files.ull << " Bytes";
    if(iRC)
    {
        std::cout << "\n!ERROR!: " << iRC;
    }
    std::cout << "\n\n";

    num_dirs_total   += num_dirs;
    num_files_total  += num_files;
    total_size_files += size_files.ull;
    num_dirs  = 1;
    num_files = 0;
    size_files.ull = 0ULL;
    return;
}

int main( void )
{
    size_files.ull = 0ULL;

    my_del_directory( (char*)"C:\Windows\temp"      );
        // This will clear out the System temporary directory on windows systems

    std::cout << "\n\nResults" << "\nTotal Folders: " << num_dirs_total
                   << "\nTotal Files:   " << num_files_total
                   << "\nTotal Size:    " << total_size_files << " Bytes\n";

    return 0;
}

Answer 6

Try use system "rmdir -s -q file_to_delte".
This will delete the folder and all files in it.