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Delete all files in directory (but not directory) - one liner solution

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How do you delete all files in a directory without deleting the directory?

Open the terminal application. To delete everything in a directory run: rm /path/to/dir/* To remove all sub-directories and files: rm -r /path/to/dir/*

How do I delete all files except a specific file extension?

Highlight all the files you want to keep by clicking the first file type, hold down the Shift key, and click the last file. Once all the files you want to keep are highlighted, on the Home Tab, click Invert Selection to select all other files and folders.

How can I delete all files in a directory without prompt?

Using the -r flag to deleting a non-empty directory. If you do not want a prompt before deleting the directory and its contents, use the -rf flag. This will remove everything inside the directory, including the directory itself, without any confirmation.


import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;

FileUtils.cleanDirectory(directory); 

There is this method available in the same file. This will also recursively deletes all sub-folders and files under them.

Docs: org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils.cleanDirectory


Do you mean like?

for(File file: dir.listFiles()) 
    if (!file.isDirectory()) 
        file.delete();

This will only delete files, not directories.


Peter Lawrey's answer is great because it is simple and not depending on anything special, and it's the way you should do it. If you need something that removes subdirectories and their contents as well, use recursion:

void purgeDirectory(File dir) {
    for (File file: dir.listFiles()) {
        if (file.isDirectory())
            purgeDirectory(file);
        file.delete();
    }
}

To spare subdirectories and their contents (part of your question), modify as follows:

void purgeDirectoryButKeepSubDirectories(File dir) {
    for (File file: dir.listFiles()) {
        if (!file.isDirectory())
            file.delete();
    }
}

Or, since you wanted a one-line solution:

for (File file: dir.listFiles())
    if (!file.isDirectory())
        file.delete();

Using an external library for such a trivial task is not a good idea unless you need this library for something else anyway, in which case it is preferrable to use existing code. You appear to be using the Apache library anyway so use its FileUtils.cleanDirectory() method.


Java 8 Stream

This deletes only files from ABC (sub-directories are untouched):

Arrays.stream(new File("C:/test/ABC/").listFiles()).forEach(File::delete);

This deletes only files from ABC (and sub-directories):

Files.walk(Paths.get("C:/test/ABC/"))
                .filter(Files::isRegularFile)
                .map(Path::toFile)
                .forEach(File::delete);

^ This version requires handling the IOException