Remove directory which is not empty

Question

In my Node application I need to remove a directory which has some files  but fs rmdir only works on empty directories  How can I do this

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const fs   require  fs   const path   require  path    let  dirloc     lt path do the directory gt    if  fs existsSync  dirloc       fs readdir path   err  files    gt        if   err          for  let file of files               Delete each file         fs unlinkSync path join  dirloc  file                           After the  done  of each file delete       Delete the directory itself    if  fs unlinkSync  dirloc         console log  Directory has been deleted

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2020 Answer If you want to do it in a npm script  You DON T need to previously install any 3rd party package if you use the command npx If for example  you want to delete the folders dist and  cache when you run npm run clean then just add this command to your package json      quot scripts quot          quot clean quot    quot npx rimraf dist  cache quot         It will work in any operative system

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As of 2019     As of Node js 12 10 0  fs rmdirSync supports a recursive options  so you can finally do   fs rmdirSync dir    recursive  true       Where the recursive option deletes the entire directory recursively

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I wrote this function called remove folder   It will recursively remove all the files and folders in a location   The only package it requires is async   var async   require  async     function removeFolder location  next        fs readdir location  function  err  files            async each files  function  file  cb                file   location         file             fs stat file  function  err  stat                    if  err                        return cb err                                     if  stat isDirectory                          removeFolder file  cb                     else                       fs unlink file  function  err                            if  err                                return cb err                                                     return cb                                                                       function  err                if  err  return next err              fs rmdir location  function  err                    return next err

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Another alternative is using the fs-promise module that provides promisified versions of the fs-extra modules  you could then write like this example   const   remove  mkdirp  writeFile  readFile     require  fs-promise   const   join  dirname     require  path    async function createAndRemove       const content    Hello World     const root   join   dirname   foo     const file   join root   bar    baz    hello txt      await mkdirp dirname file     await writeFile file  content    console log await readFile file   utf-8      await remove join   dirname   foo       createAndRemove   catch console error    note  async await requires a recent nodejs version  7 6

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My modified answer from  oconnecp  https   stackoverflow com a 25069828 3027390   Uses path join for better cross-platform experience  So  don t forget to require it   var path   require  path      Also renamed function to rimraf            Remove directory recursively     param  string  dir path     see https   stackoverflow com a 42505874 3027390     function rimraf dir path        if  fs existsSync dir path             fs readdirSync dir path  forEach function entry                var entry path   path join dir path  entry               if  fs lstatSync entry path  isDirectory                      rimraf entry path                 else                   fs unlinkSync entry path                                     fs rmdirSync dir path

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According to the fs documentation  fsPromises currently provides the recursive option on an experimental basis  which  at least in my own case on Windows  removes the directory and any files therein   fsPromises rmdir path      recursive  true      Does recursive  true remove the files on Linux and MacOS

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This is one approach using promisify and two help functions  to and toAll  to resolve the promise   It does all actions asynchrounous   const fs   require  fs    const   promisify     require  util    const to   require    to    const toAll   require    toAll     const readDirAsync   promisify fs readdir   const rmDirAsync   promisify fs rmdir   const unlinkAsync   promisify fs unlink               author A  cio Levy        function removeDirWithFiles        usage  remove dir with files        param  String  path        const removeDirWithFiles   async path   gt        try           const file   readDirAsync path           const  error  files    await to file           if  error                throw new Error error                    const arrayUnlink   files map  fileName    gt                return unlinkAsync    path    fileName                         const  errorUnlink  filesUnlink    await toAll arrayUnlink           if  errorUnlink                throw new Error errorUnlink                     const deleteDir   rmDirAsync path           const  errorDelete  result    await to deleteDir           if  errorDelete                throw new Error errorDelete                   catch  err            console log err

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graph-fs  Install npm i graph-fs   Use const  Node    require  quot graph-fs quot    const directory   new Node  quot  path to directory quot     directory delete        lt --

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return new Promise  resolve  reject    gt      const fs   require  quot fs quot         directory path   const dir    quot your dir quot         delete directory recursively  lt ------   fs rmdir dir    recursive  true     err    gt        if  err          reject err             resolve    dir  is deleted

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There is a module for this called rimraf  https   npmjs org package rimraf   It provides the same functionality as rm -Rf  Async usage   var rimraf   require  rimraf    rimraf   some directory   function      console log  done          Sync usage   rimraf sync   some directory

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To remove folder synchronously     const fs   require  fs        const Path   require  path         const deleteFolderRecursive   function  directoryPath        if  fs existsSync directoryPath             fs readdirSync directoryPath  forEach  file  index    gt              const curPath   path join directoryPath  file             if  fs lstatSync curPath  isDirectory                    recurse             deleteFolderRecursive curPath               else                  delete file             fs unlinkSync curPath                                   fs rmdirSync directoryPath

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const fs   require  quot fs quot    fs rmdir  quot   test quot     recursive  true     err    gt      if  err        console error err             Provide the recursive  true option  And it will recursively delete all the files and directories of the given path   Assuming test is directory present at root

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Just use rmdir module  it s easy and simple

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Ultra-speed and fail-proof  You can use the lignator package  https   www npmjs com package lignator   it s faster than any async code  e g  rimraf  and more fail-proof  especially in Windows  where file removal is not instantaneous and files might be locked by other processes       4 36 GB of data  28 042 files  4 217 folders on Windows removed in 15 seconds vs rimraf s 60 seconds on old HDD    const lignator   require  lignator     lignator remove    build

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Sync folder remove with the files or only a file  I am not much of a giver nor a contributor but I couldn t find a good solution of this problem and I had to find my way    so I hope you ll like it     Works perfect for me with any number of nested directories and sub directories  Caution for the scope of  this  when recursing the function  your implementation may be different  In my case this function stays into the return of another function that s why I am calling it with this        const fs   require  fs         deleteFileOrDir path  pathTemp   false               if  fs existsSync path                     if  fs lstatSync path  isDirectory                          var files   fs readdirSync path                       if   files length  return fs rmdirSync path                       for  var file in files                            var currentPath   path         files file                           if   fs existsSync currentPath   continue                          if  fs lstatSync currentPath  isFile                                  fs unlinkSync currentPath                               continue                                                    if  fs lstatSync currentPath  isDirectory    amp  amp   fs readdirSync currentPath  length                                fs rmdirSync currentPath                             else                               this deleteFileOrDir currentPath  path                                                                       this deleteFileOrDir path                     else                       fs unlinkSync path                                               if  pathTemp  this deleteFileOrDir pathTemp

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In the latest version of Node js  12 10 0 or later   the rmdir style functions fs rmdir    fs rmdirSync    and fs promises rmdir   have a new experimental option recursive that allows deleting non-empty directories  e g   fs rmdir path    recursive  true       The related PR on GitHub  https   github com nodejs node pull 29168

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2020 Update  From version 12 10 0 recursiveOption has been added for options   Note that recursive deletion is experimental   So you would do for sync   fs rmdirSync dir   recursive  true      or for async   fs rmdir dir   recursive  true

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Async version of  SharpCoder s answer using fs promises   const fs   require  fs    const afs   fs promises   const deleteFolderRecursive   async path   gt         if  fs existsSync path             for  let entry of await afs readdir path                 const curPath   path         entry              if   await afs lstat curPath   isDirectory                    await deleteFolderRecursive curPath               else await afs unlink curPath                     await afs rmdir path

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Here is an async version of  SharpCoder s answer  const fs   require  fs    const path   require  path     function deleteFile dir  file        return new Promise function  resolve  reject            var filePath   path join dir  file           fs lstat filePath  function  err  stats                if  err                    return reject err                             if  stats isDirectory                      resolve deleteDirectory filePath                  else                   fs unlink filePath  function  err                        if  err                            return reject err                                             resolve                                                              function deleteDirectory dir        return new Promise function  resolve  reject            fs access dir  function  err                if  err                    return reject err                             fs readdir dir  function  err  files                    if  err                        return reject err                                     Promise all files map function  file                        return deleteFile dir  file                       then function                          fs rmdir dir  function  err                            if  err                                return reject err                                                     resolve                                               catch reject

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EDIT  using node js v15 5 0  Having just tried using some of the solutions posted here  I encountered the following deprecation warning    node 13202   DEP0147  DeprecationWarning  In future versions of Node js  fs rmdir path    recursive  true    will throw if path does not exist or is a file  Use fs rm path    recursive  true  force  true    instead  fs rm path    recursive  true  force  true     works nicely  with fs rmSync path    recursive  true  force  true     if you want to use the blocking version

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The de facto package is rimraf  but here is my tiny async version   const fs   require  fs   const path   require  path   const Q   require  q    function rmdir  dir      return Q nfcall fs access  dir  fs constants W OK       then      gt          return Q nfcall fs readdir  dir           then files   gt  files reduce  pre  f    gt  pre then      gt              var sub   path join dir  f            return Q nfcall fs lstat  sub  then stat   gt                if  stat isDirectory    return rmdir sub              return Q nfcall fs unlink  sub                           Q                 then      gt  Q nfcall fs rmdir  dir

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I reached here while trying to get over with the gulp and I m writing for further reaches    gulp-clean deprecated for gulp-rimraf gulp-rimraf deprecated in favor of delete-files-folders   When you want to delete files and folders using del  you should append     for recursive deletion   gulp task  clean   function          return del   some path to delete

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A quick and dirty way  maybe for testing  could be to directly use the exec or spawn method to invoke OS call to remove the directory  Read more on NodeJs child process   let exec   require  child process   exec exec  rm -Rf  tmp   zip   callback    Downsides are    You are depending on underlying OS i e  the same method would run in unix linux but probably not in windows  You cannot hijack the process on conditions or errors  You just give the task to underlying OS and wait for the exit code to be returned    Benefits    These processes can run asynchronously  You can listen for the output error of the command  hence command output is not lost  If operation is not completed  you can check the error code and retry

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While recursive is an experimental option of fs rmdir  function rm  path  cb        fs stat path  function  err  stats            if  err              return cb err            if  stats isFile                return fs unlink path  cb            fs rmdir path  function  err                if   err    err  amp  amp  err code     ENOTEMPTY                    return cb err                fs readdir path  function  err  files                    if  err                      return cb err                    let next   i   gt  i    files length                        rm path  cb                         rm path         files i   err   gt  err   cb err    next i   1                     next 0

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If you are using node 8  want asyncronicity and don t want external dependencies  here is the async await version   const path   require  path    const fs   require  fs    const util   require  util     const readdir   util promisify fs readdir   const lstat   util promisify fs lstat   const unlink   util promisify fs unlink   const rmdir   util promisify fs rmdir    const removeDir   async  dir    gt        try           const files   await readdir dir           await Promise all files map async  file    gt                try                   const p   path join dir  file                   const stat   await lstat p                   if  stat isDirectory                          await removeDir p                     else                       await unlink p                       console log  Removed file   p                                     catch  err                    console error err                                     await rmdir dir           console log  Removed dir   dir           catch  err          console error err

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Most of the people using fs with Node js would like functions close to the  Unix way  of dealing with files  I m using fs-extra to bring all the cool stuff       fs-extra contains methods that aren t included in the vanilla Node js   fs package  Such as mkdir -p  cp -r  and rm -rf    Even better  fs-extra is a drop in replacement for native fs  All methods in fs are unmodified and attached to it  It means that you can replace fs by fs-extra       this can be replaced const fs   require  fs       by this const fs   require  fs-extra     And then you can remove a folder this way   fs removeSync   tmp myFolder       or fs remove   tmp myFolder   callback

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As of Node v14  October 2020   the fs module has fs rm and rs rmSync that support recursive  non-empty directory unlinking  https   nodejs org docs latest-v14 x api fs html fs fs rm path options callback So you can now do something like this  const fs   require  fs    fs rm   path to delete     recursive  true         gt  console log  done      or  const fs   require  fs    fs rmSync   path to delete     recursive  true     console log  done

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without use of any third party lib   const fs   require  fs    var FOLDER PATH      dirname   var files   fs readdirSync FOLDER PATH   files forEach element   gt        fs unlinkSync FOLDER PATH         element       fs rmdirSync FOLDER PATH

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I wish there was a way to do this without additional modules for something so minuscule and common  but this is the best I could come up with   Update  Should now work on Windows  tested Windows 10   and should also work on Linux Unix BSD Mac systems   const     execSync   require  child process   execSync      fs   require  fs        os   require  os     let removeDirCmd  theDir   removeDirCmd   os platform        win32     rmdir  s  q      rm -rf     theDir     dirname        web-ui css        WARNING  Do not specify a single file as the windows rmdir command will error  if  fs existsSync theDir         console log   removing the     theDir     directory         execSync removeDirCmd         theDir        function  err            console log err

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I don t usually resurrect old threads but there is a lot on churn here and sans the rimraf answer these all seem overly complicated to me   First in modern Node     v8 0 0  you can simplify the process using only node core modules  fully asynchronous  and parallelize the unlinking of files concurrently all in a function of five lines and still keep readability   const fs   require  fs    const path   require  path    const   promisify     require  util    const readdir   promisify fs readdir   const rmdir   promisify fs rmdir   const unlink   promisify fs unlink    exports rmdirs   async function rmdirs dir      let entries   await readdir dir    withFileTypes  true       await Promise all entries map entry   gt        let fullPath   path join dir  entry name       return entry isDirectory     rmdirs fullPath    unlink fullPath            await rmdir dir        On another note a guard for path traversal attacks is inappropriate for this function because   It is out of scope based on the Single Responsibility Principle  Should be handled by the caller not this function  This is akin to the command-line rm -rf in that it takes an argument and will allow the user to rm -rf   if asked to  It would be the responsibility of a script to guard not the rm program itself  This function would be unable to determine such an attack since it does not have a frame of reference  Again that is the responsibility of the caller who would have the context of intent which would provide it a reference to compare the path traversal  Sym-links are not a concern as  isDirectory   is false for sym-links and are unlinked not recursed into    Last but not least  there is a rare race condition that the recursion could error if one of the entries was unlinked or deleted outside this script at just the right time while this recursion is running  Since this scenario is not typical in most environments it can likely be overlooked  However  if required  for some edge cases  this issue can be mitigated with this slightly more complex example   exports rmdirs   async function rmdirs dir      let entries   await readdir dir    withFileTypes  true       let results   await Promise all entries map entry   gt        let fullPath   path join dir  entry name       let task   entry isDirectory     rmdirs fullPath    unlink fullPath       return task catch error   gt     error               results forEach result   gt           Ignore missing files directories  bail on other errors     if  result  amp  amp  result error code      ENOENT   throw result error          await rmdir dir        EDIT  Make isDirectory   a function  Remove the actual directory at the end  Fix missing recursion

[node.js] Remove directory which is not empty

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