How to delete a whole folder and content

Question

I want the users of my application to be able to delete the DCIM folder  which is located on the SD card and contains subfolders    Is this possible  if so how

User · Answer

see android os FileUtils  it s hide on API 21  public static boolean deleteContents File dir        File   files   dir listFiles        boolean success   true      if  files    null            for  File file   files                if  file isDirectory                      success  amp   deleteContents file                             if   file delete                      Log w  Failed to delete     file                   success   false                                    return success      Source  https   android googlesource com platform frameworks base   master core java android os FileUtils java 414

User · Answer

Safest code I know   private boolean recursiveRemove File file        if file    null      file exists              return false             if file isDirectory              File   list   file listFiles             if list    null                 for File item   list                    recursiveRemove item                                       if file exists              file delete               return  file exists        Checks the file exists  handles nulls  checks the directory was actually deleted

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You can not delete the directory if it has subdirectories or files in Java  Try this two-line simple solution  This will delete the directory and contests inside the directory   File dirName   new File  directory path    FileUtils deleteDirectory dirName     Add this line in gradle file and sync the project  compile  org apache commons commons-io 1 3 2

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public static void deleteDirectory  File dir          if   dir isDirectory                   String    children   dir list            for   int i   0   i  lt  children length   i                         File child      new File  dir   children i              if child isDirectory                  deleteDirectory  child                 child delete              else               child delete                                  dir delete

User · Answer

To delete all the files of a specific folder  amp  subfolder public static void deleteFiles File directory  Context c        try           for  File file   directory listFiles                  if  file isFile                      final ContentResolver contentResolver   c getContentResolver                    String canonicalPath                  try                       canonicalPath   file getCanonicalPath                      catch  IOException e                        canonicalPath   file getAbsolutePath                                      final Uri uri   MediaStore Files getContentUri  external                    final int result   contentResolver delete uri                          MediaStore Files FileColumns DATA         new String   canonicalPath                    if  result    0                        final String absolutePath   file getAbsolutePath                        if   absolutePath equals canonicalPath                             contentResolver delete uri                                  MediaStore Files FileColumns DATA         new String   absolutePath                                                            if  file exists                          file delete                        if  file exists                              try                               file getCanonicalFile   delete                              catch  IOException e                                e printStackTrace                                                      if  file exists                                  c deleteFile file getName                                                                                     else                 deleteFiles file  c                   catch  Exception e              here is your solution it will also refresh the gallery as well

User · Answer

According to the documentation      If this abstract pathname does not denote a directory  then this method returns null     So you should check if listFiles is null and only continue if it s not  boolean deleteDirectory File path        if path exists              File   files   path listFiles            if  files    null                return false                    for  File file   files                if  file isDirectory                      deleteDirectory file                 else                   boolean wasSuccessful   file delete                    if  wasSuccessful                        Log i  Deleted     successfully                                                        return path delete

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Short koltin version fun File deleteDirectory    Boolean       return if  exists              listFiles    forEach               if  it isDirectory                    it deleteDirectory                 else                   it delete                                   delete         else false    UPDATE Kotlin stdlib function file deleteRecursively

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Let me tell you first thing you cannot delete the DCIM folder because it is a system folder  As you delete it manually on phone it will delete the contents of that folder  but not the DCIM folder  You can delete its contents by using the method below   Updated as per comments  File dir   new File Environment getExternalStorageDirectory    Dir name here     if  dir isDirectory           String   children   dir list        for  int i   0  i  lt  children length  i                 new File dir  children i   delete

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Simple way to delete all file from directory     It is generic function for delete all images from directory by calling only   deleteAllImageFile context    public static void deleteAllFile Context context    File directory   context getExternalFilesDir null           if  directory isDirectory                  for  String fileName  file list                      new File file fileName  delete

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use below method to delete entire main directory which contains files and it s sub directory  After calling this method once again call delete   directory of your main directory      For to Delete the directory inside list of files and inner Directory public static boolean deleteDir File dir        if  dir isDirectory              String   children   dir list            for  int i 0  i lt children length  i                  boolean success   deleteDir new File dir  children i                 if   success                    return false                                        The directory is now empty so delete it     return dir delete

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In Kotlin you can use deleteRecursively   extension from kotlin io package  val someDir   File   path to dir   someDir deleteRecursively

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There is a lot of answers  but I decided to add my own  because it s little different  It s based on OOP     I created class DirectoryCleaner  which help me each time when I need to clean some directory   public class DirectoryCleaner       private final File mFile       public DirectoryCleaner File file            mFile   file             public void clean             if  null    mFile     mFile exists       mFile isDirectory    return          for  File file   mFile listFiles                  delete file                        private void delete File file            if  file isDirectory                  for  File child   file listFiles                      delete child                                   file delete               It can be used to solve this problem in next way   File dir   new File Environment getExternalStorageDirectory     your directory name    new DirectoryCleaner dir  clean    dir delete

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We can use the command line arguments to delete a whole folder and its contents   public static void deleteFiles String path         File file   new File path        if  file exists              String deleteCmd    rm -r     path          Runtime runtime   Runtime getRuntime            try               runtime exec deleteCmd             catch  IOException e                Example usage of the above code   deleteFiles   sdcard uploads

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The fastest and easiest way  public static boolean deleteFolder File removableFolder            File   files   removableFolder listFiles            if  files    null  amp  amp  files length  gt  0                for  File file   files                    boolean success                  if  file isDirectory                        success   deleteFolder file                   else success   file delete                    if   success  return false                                  return removableFolder delete

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This is what I do      terse and tested               deleteDir new File dir to be deleted                    delete directory and contents     void deleteDir File file             if  file isDirectory                for  String child   file list                    deleteDir new File file  child            file delete        delete child file or empty directory

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If you dont need to delete things recursively you can try something like this   File file   new File context getExternalFilesDir null            if  file    null  amp  amp  file isDirectory              File   files   file listFiles            if files    null                for File f   files                       f delete

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private static void deleteRecursive File dir          Log d  DeleteRecursive    DELETEPREVIOUS TOP    dir getPath         if  dir isDirectory                  String   children   dir list            for  int i   0  i  lt  children length  i                          File temp   new File dir  children i                deleteRecursive temp                         if  dir delete      false                Log d  DeleteRecursive    DELETE FAIL

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Yet another  modern  way to solve it   public class FileUtils       public static void delete File fileOrDirectory            if fileOrDirectory    null  amp  amp  fileOrDirectory exists                  if fileOrDirectory isDirectory    amp  amp  fileOrDirectory listFiles      null                          Arrays stream fileOrDirectory listFiles                           forEach FileUtils  delete                             fileOrDirectory delete                        On Android since API 26  public class FileUtils        public static void delete File fileOrDirectory             if fileOrDirectory    null                delete fileOrDirectory toPath                          public static void delete Path path             try               if Files exists path                     Files walk path                           sorted Comparator reverseOrder                             map Path  toFile                           peek System out  println                           forEach File  delete                           catch  IOException e                e printStackTrace

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I m using this recursive function to do the job  public static void deleteDirAndContents  NonNull File mFile       if  mFile isDirectory    amp  amp  mFile listFiles      null  amp  amp  mFile listFiles   length  gt  0x0            for  File file   mFile listFiles                  deleteDirAndContents file                   else           mFile delete             The function checks if it is a directory or a file  If it is a directory checks if it has child files  if it has child files will call herself again passing the children and repeating  If it is a file it delete it   Don t use this function to clear the app cache by passing the cache dir because it will delete the cache dir too so the app will crash    If you want to clear the cache you use this function that won t delete the dir you pass to it  public static void deleteDirContents  NonNull File mFile           if  mFile isDirectory    amp  amp  mFile listFiles      null  amp  amp  mFile listFiles   length  gt  0x0                for  File file   mFile listFiles                      deleteDirAndContents file                                  or you can check if it is the cache dir using  if   mFile getAbsolutePath   equals context getCacheDir   getAbsolutePath           mFile delete       Example code to clear app cache  public static void clearAppCache Context context           try               File cache   context getCacheDir                FilesUtils deleteDirContents cache             catch  Exception e               MyLogger onException TAG  e                    Bye  Have a nice day  amp  coding  D

User · Answer

Your approach is decent for a folder that only contains files  but if you are looking for a scenario that also contains subfolders then recursion is needed  Also you should capture the return value of the return to make sure you are allowed to delete the file  and include   lt uses-permission android name  android permission WRITE EXTERNAL STORAGE    gt    in your manifest  void DeleteRecursive File dir        Log d  DeleteRecursive    DELETEPREVIOUS TOP    dir getPath         if  dir isDirectory                  String   children   dir list            for  int i   0  i  lt  children length  i                          File temp   new File dir  children i                if  temp isDirectory                                  Log d  DeleteRecursive    Recursive Call    temp getPath                     DeleteRecursive temp                             else                               Log d  DeleteRecursive    Delete File    temp getPath                     boolean b   temp delete                    if  b    false                                        Log d  DeleteRecursive    DELETE FAIL                                                         dir delete

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You can delete files and folders recursively like this   void deleteRecursive File fileOrDirectory        if  fileOrDirectory isDirectory            for  File child   fileOrDirectory listFiles                deleteRecursive child        fileOrDirectory delete

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This  Tries to delete all sub-files and sub-directories including the supplied directory     If File  delete If Empty Directory  delete if Not Empty Directory  call delete again with sub-directory  repeat 1 to 3   example   File externalDir   Environment getExternalStorageDirectory   Utils deleteAll externalDir     BE CAREFUL   Will try and delete ALL external storage files and directories   To gain access to External Storage Directory  you need the following permissions    Use ContextCompat checkSelfPermission and ActivityCompat requestPermissions    lt uses-permission android name  android permission READ EXTERNAL STORAGE    gt   lt uses-permission android name  android permission WRITE EXTERNAL STORAGE    gt    Recursive method   public static boolean deleteAll File file        if  file    null     file exists    return false       boolean success   true      if  file isDirectory              File   files   file listFiles            if  files    null  amp  amp  files length  gt  0                for  File f   files                    if  f isDirectory                          success  amp   deleteAll f                                     if   f delete                          Log w  deleteAll    Failed to delete     f                       success   false                                            else               if   file delete                      Log w  deleteAll    Failed to delete     file                   success   false                                else           if   file delete                  Log w  deleteAll    Failed to delete     file               success   false                      return success

User · Answer

I ve put this one though its  paces it deletes a folder with any directory structure   public int removeDirectory final File folder         if folder isDirectory      true            File   folderContents   folder listFiles            int deletedFiles   0           if folderContents length    0                if folder delete                      deletedFiles                    return deletedFiles                                  else if folderContents length  gt  0                 do                    File lastFolder   folder                  File   lastFolderContents   lastFolder listFiles                       This while loop finds the deepest path that does not contain any other folders                 do                        for File file   lastFolderContents                             if file isDirectory                                  lastFolder   file                              lastFolderContents   file listFiles                                break                                                    else                                if file delete                                      deletedFiles                                                              else                                   break                                                            End if file isDirectory                            End for File file   folderContents                     while lastFolder delete      false                    deletedFiles                    if folder exists      false   return deletedFiles                  while folder exists                         else           return -1             return 0       Hope this helps

User · Answer

Here is a non-recursive implementation  just for fun          Deletes the given folder and all its files   subfolders     Is not implemented in a recursive way  The  Recursively  in the name stems from the filesystem command     param root The folder to delete recursively     public static void deleteRecursively final File root        LinkedList lt File gt  deletionQueue   new LinkedList lt  gt         deletionQueue add root        while  deletionQueue isEmpty              final File toDelete   deletionQueue removeFirst            final File   children   toDelete listFiles            if children    null    children length    0                   This is either a file or an empty directory - gt  deletion possible             toDelete delete              else                  Add the children before the folder because they have to be deleted first             deletionQueue addAll Arrays asList children                   Add the folder again because we can t delete it yet              deletionQueue addLast toDelete

[android] How to delete a whole folder and content?

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