How to delete all files and folders in a directory?

Question

Using C#, how can I delete all files and folders from a directory, but still keep the root directory?

Answer 1

System.IO.DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo("YourPath");

foreach (FileInfo file in di.GetFiles())
{
    file.Delete(); 
}
foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in di.GetDirectories())
{
    dir.Delete(true); 
}

---

If your directory may have many files, EnumerateFiles() is more efficient than GetFiles(), because when you use EnumerateFiles() you can start enumerating it before the whole collection is returned, as opposed to GetFiles() where you need to load the entire collection in memory before begin to enumerate it. See this quote here:

Therefore, when you are working with many files and directories, EnumerateFiles() can be more efficient.

The same applies to EnumerateDirectories() and GetDirectories(). So the code would be:

foreach (FileInfo file in di.EnumerateFiles())
{
    file.Delete(); 
}
foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in di.EnumerateDirectories())
{
    dir.Delete(true); 
}

For the purpose of this question, there is really no reason to use GetFiles() and GetDirectories().

Answer 2

Yes, that's the correct way to do it. If you're looking to give yourself a "Clean" (or, as I'd prefer to call it, "Empty" function), you can create an extension method.

public static void Empty(this System.IO.DirectoryInfo directory)
{
    foreach(System.IO.FileInfo file in directory.GetFiles()) file.Delete();
    foreach(System.IO.DirectoryInfo subDirectory in directory.GetDirectories()) subDirectory.Delete(true);
}

This will then allow you to do something like..

System.IO.DirectoryInfo directory = new System.IO.DirectoryInfo(@"C:\...");

directory.Empty();

Answer 3

The following code will clear the folder recursively:

private void clearFolder(string FolderName)
{
    DirectoryInfo dir = new DirectoryInfo(FolderName);

    foreach(FileInfo fi in dir.GetFiles())
    {
        fi.Delete();
    }

    foreach (DirectoryInfo di in dir.GetDirectories())
    {
        clearFolder(di.FullName);
        di.Delete();
    }
}

Answer 4

We can also show love for LINQ:

using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
…
var directory = Directory.GetParent(TestContext.TestDir);

directory.EnumerateFiles()
    .ToList().ForEach(f => f.Delete());

directory.EnumerateDirectories()
    .ToList().ForEach(d => d.Delete(true));

Note that my solution here is not performant, because I am using Get*().ToList().ForEach(...) which generates the same IEnumerable twice. I use an extension method to avoid this issue:

using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
…
var directory = Directory.GetParent(TestContext.TestDir);

directory.EnumerateFiles()
    .ForEachInEnumerable(f => f.Delete());

directory.EnumerateDirectories()
    .ForEachInEnumerable(d => d.Delete(true));

This is the extension method:

/// <summary>
/// Extensions for <see cref="System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable"/>.
/// </summary>
public static class IEnumerableOfTExtensions
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Performs the <see cref="System.Action"/>
    /// on each item in the enumerable object.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="TEnumerable">The type of the enumerable.</typeparam>
    /// <param name="enumerable">The enumerable.</param>
    /// <param name="action">The action.</param>
    /// <remarks>
    /// “I am philosophically opposed to providing such a method, for two reasons.
    /// …The first reason is that doing so violates the functional programming principles
    /// that all the other sequence operators are based upon. Clearly the sole purpose of a call
    /// to this method is to cause side effects.”
    /// —Eric Lippert, “foreach” vs “ForEach” [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2009/05/18/foreach-vs-foreach.aspx]
    /// </remarks>
    public static void ForEachInEnumerable<TEnumerable>(this IEnumerable<TEnumerable> enumerable, Action<TEnumerable> action)
    {
        foreach (var item in enumerable)
        {
            action(item);
        }
    }
}

Answer 5

private void ClearFolder(string FolderName)
{
    DirectoryInfo dir = new DirectoryInfo(FolderName);

    foreach(FileInfo fi in dir.GetFiles())
    {
        try
        {
            fi.Delete();
        }
        catch(Exception) { } // Ignore all exceptions
    }

    foreach(DirectoryInfo di in dir.GetDirectories())
    {
        ClearFolder(di.FullName);
        try
        {
            di.Delete();
        }
        catch(Exception) { } // Ignore all exceptions
    }
}

If you know there are no sub-folders, something like this may be the easiest:

    Array.ForEach(Directory.GetFiles(folderName), File.Delete);

Answer 6

The simplest way:

Directory.Delete(path,true);  
Directory.CreateDirectory(path);

Be aware that this may wipe out some permissions on the folder.

Answer 7

 new System.IO.DirectoryInfo(@"C:\Temp").Delete(true);

 //Or

 System.IO.Directory.Delete(@"C:\Temp", true);

Answer 8

I used

Directory.GetFiles(picturePath).ToList().ForEach(File.Delete);

for delete the old picture and I don't need any object in this folder

Answer 9

System.IO.Directory.Delete(installPath, true);
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(installPath);

Answer 10

Here is the tool I ended with after reading all posts. It does

• Deletes all that can be deleted
• Returns false if some files remain in folder

It deals with

• Readonly files
• Deletion delay
• Locked files

It doesn't use Directory.Delete because the process is aborted on exception.

    /// <summary>
    /// Attempt to empty the folder. Return false if it fails (locked files...).
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="pathName"></param>
    /// <returns>true on success</returns>
    public static bool EmptyFolder(string pathName)
    {
        bool errors = false;
        DirectoryInfo dir = new DirectoryInfo(pathName);

        foreach (FileInfo fi in dir.EnumerateFiles())
        {
            try
            {
                fi.IsReadOnly = false;
                fi.Delete();

                //Wait for the item to disapear (avoid 'dir not empty' error).
                while (fi.Exists)
                {
                    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10);
                    fi.Refresh();
                }
            }
            catch (IOException e)
            {
                Debug.WriteLine(e.Message);
                errors = true;
            }
        }

        foreach (DirectoryInfo di in dir.EnumerateDirectories())
        {
            try
            {
                EmptyFolder(di.FullName);
                di.Delete();

                //Wait for the item to disapear (avoid 'dir not empty' error).
                while (di.Exists)
                {
                    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10);
                    di.Refresh();
                }
            }
            catch (IOException e)
            {
                Debug.WriteLine(e.Message);
                errors = true;
            }
        }

        return !errors;
    }

Answer 11

Every method that I tried, they have failed at some point with System.IO errors. The following method works for sure, even if the folder is empty or not, read-only or not, etc.

ProcessStartInfo Info = new ProcessStartInfo();  
Info.Arguments = "/C rd /s /q \"C:\\MyFolder"";  
Info.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;  
Info.CreateNoWindow = true;  
Info.FileName = "cmd.exe";  
Process.Start(Info); 

Answer 12

Using just static methods with File and Directory instead of FileInfo and DirectoryInfo will perform faster. (see accepted answer at What is the difference between File and FileInfo in C#?). Answer shown as utility method.

public static void Empty(string directory)
{
    foreach(string fileToDelete in System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(directory))
    {
        System.IO.File.Delete(fileToDelete);
    }
    foreach(string subDirectoryToDeleteToDelete in System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(directory))
    {
        System.IO.Directory.Delete(subDirectoryToDeleteToDelete, true);
    }
}

Answer 13

string directoryPath = "C:\Temp";
Directory.GetFiles(directoryPath).ToList().ForEach(File.Delete);
Directory.GetDirectories(directoryPath).ToList().ForEach(Directory.Delete);

Answer 14

The following code will clean the directory, but leave the root directory there (recursive).

Action<string> DelPath = null;
DelPath = p =>
{
    Directory.EnumerateFiles(p).ToList().ForEach(File.Delete);
    Directory.EnumerateDirectories(p).ToList().ForEach(DelPath);
    Directory.EnumerateDirectories(p).ToList().ForEach(Directory.Delete);
};
DelPath(path);