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 "C:\Users\tbrollo\j2mewtk\2.5.2\appdb\RMS"
del *.db

This will delete all .db files in my RMS directory, however I want to delete every single thing from this directory. How can I do this?

Answer 1

This will first delete all files in the current directory and subdirectories, then it will delete all folders in the current directory and subdirectories.

For command prompt:

del /q /s *
FOR /D %G IN (*) DO rmdir /q /s %G

For batch script:

del /q /s *
FOR /D %%G IN (*) DO rmdir /q /s %%G

This approach is more readable, to me.

Answer 2

Easy simple answer :

C:
del /S /Q C:\folderName\otherFolderName\*

C: Important in case you have to switch from D: to C: or C: to D: (or anything else)

/S Recursive, all subfolders are deleted along

/Q If you don't activate quiet mode, prompt will ask you to type y for every subfolders... you don't want that

Be carful, it's drastic.

Answer 3

The easiest way is:

1. Create *.txt file
2. Write: rmdir /q /s . dir
3. Save file as *.bat in folder which you want to clear (you can call the file NUKE.bat)
4. Turn it on

WARNING!

THIS DELETES EVERYTHING IN THE FOLDER WHERE IT IS WITHOUT ASKING FOR CONFIRMATION!!!

SO CHOOSE WISELY PLACE FOR SAVING IT.

Answer 4

I would like to suggest using simple tool like cleardir. So, in batch file you can write:

cleardir path/to/dir

And you'll get empty directory dir. A bit slow, but still resolves the "problem".

I'm an author of the tool =)

Answer 5

del *.* will only delete files, but not subdirectories. To nuke the contents of a directory, you can use this script:

@echo off
setlocal enableextensions
if {%1}=={} goto :HELP
if {%1}=={/?} goto :HELP
goto :START

:HELP
echo Usage: %~n0 directory-name
echo.
echo Empties the contents of the specified directory,
echo WITHOUT CONFIRMATION. USE EXTREME CAUTION!
goto :DONE

:START
pushd %1 || goto :DONE
rd /q /s . 2> NUL
popd

:DONE
endlocal

The pushd changes into the directory of which you want to delete the children. Then when rd asks to delete the current directory and all sub directories, the deletion of the sub directories succeed, but the deletion of the current directory fails - because we are in it. This produces an error which 2> NUL swallows. (2 being the error stream).

Answer 6

Use

set dir="Your Folder Path Here"
rmdir /s %dir%
mkdir %dir%

This version deletes without asking:

set dir="Your Folder Here"
rmdir /s /q %dir%
mkdir %dir%

Example:

set dir="C:\foo1\foo\foo\foo3"
rmdir /s /q %dir%
mkdir %dir%

This will clear C:\foo1\foo\foo\foo3.

_{(I would like to mention Abdullah Sabouin's answer. There was a mix up about me copying him. I did not notice his post. I would like to thank you melpomene for pointing out errors!)}

Answer 7

@echo off
@color 0A

echo Deleting logs

rmdir /S/Q c:\log\

ping 1.1.1.1 -n 5 -w 1000 > nul

echo Adding log folder back

md c:\log\

You was on the right track. Just add code to add the folder which is deleted back again.

Answer 8

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 9

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 10

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 11

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 12

Better yet, let's say I want to remove everything under the C:\windows\temp folder.

@echo off
rd C:\windows\temp /s /q

Answer 13

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.

Answer 14

Try the following; it works for me.

I have an application which dumps data in my "C:\tmp" folder, and the following works the best for me. It doesn't even ask Yes or No to delete the data. I have made a schedule for it to run after every 5 minutes

cd "C:\tmp"

del *.* /Q

Answer 15

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 16

set "DIR_TO_DELETE=your_path_to_the_folder"

IF EXIST %DIR_TO_DELETE% (
    FOR /D %%p IN ("%DIR_TO_DELETE%\*.*") DO rmdir "%%p" /S /Q
    del %DIR_TO_DELETE%\*.* /F /Q
)

Answer 17

del *.* instead of del *.db. That will remove everything.

Answer 18

IF EXIST "C:\Users\tbrollo\j2mewtk\2.5.2\appdb\RMS" (
    rmdir "C:\Users\tbrollo\j2mewtk\2.5.2\appdb\RMS" /s /q
)

This will delete everything from the folder (and the folder itself).