Remove empty directories using msbuild

Question

How can I process a path recursively so that once the processing completes there are no empty directories under the path.

For example, say we have C:\Dir1\Dir2\Dir3 and there are no files in any of these directories. The outcome should be the removal of all three directories.

I would like to accomplish this without the use of custom tasks.

Answer 1

Something like this should work, didn't check the performance of counting thousands of files though just to get array length...

<Project DefaultTargets="Foo" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
    <Target Name="Foo">
        <ItemGroup>
            <Directories Include="$([System.IO.Directory]::GetDirectories('D:\foo', '*', System.IO.SearchOption.AllDirectories))" />
            <Directories>
                <Files>$([System.IO.Directory]::GetFiles("%(Directories.Identity)", "*", System.IO.SearchOption.AllDirectories).get_Length())</Files>
            </Directories>
        </ItemGroup>        
        <RemoveDir Directories="@(Directories)" Condition="%(Files)=='0'" />
    </Target>
</Project>

Answer 2

Using an Exec Task running PowerShell:

MSBuild

<Project DefaultTargets="DefaultTarget" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <CleanPath>C:\MyDirAboveDir1</CleanPath>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <Target Name="DefaultTarget">
        <Exec Command="PowerShell .\RemoveDir.ps1 '$(CleanPath)'" />
    </Target>
</Project>

PowerShell RemoveDir.ps1

Param ([string]$folderpath = $(throw "provide folderpath"))

$folders = Get-ChildItem $folderpath -recurse -force | ? {$_.PSIsContainer}

if ($folders -ne $null)
{
    [array]::Reverse($folders)

    foreach($folder in $folders)
    {
        Write-Host "Examining contents of $($folder.fullname)"
        $childitems = Get-Childitem $folder.fullname -recurse -force | ? { $_.PSIsContainer -eq $false }

        if($childitems -eq $null)
        {
            "Remove folder: " + $folder.FullName
            Remove-Item $folder.FullName -Recurse -Force
        }
        else
        {
            Write-host "Files found in $folder, skipping delete"
        }

        $childitems = $null
    }
}
else
{
    Write-Host "no sub folders found"
}

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Courtesy to Guy Ellis Rocks: Powershell script to remove empty directories