[c#] How to delete all files and folders in a directory?

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

I used

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

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

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;
    }

The only thing you should do is to set optional recursive parameter to True.

Directory.Delete("C:\MyDummyDirectory", True)

Thanks to .NET. :)

this will show how we delete the folder and check for it we use Text box

using System.IO;
namespace delete_the_folder
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void Deletebt_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        //the  first you should write the folder place
        if (Pathfolder.Text=="")
        {
            MessageBox.Show("ples write the path of the folder");
            Pathfolder.Select();
            //return;
        }

        FileAttributes attr = File.GetAttributes(@Pathfolder.Text);

        if (attr.HasFlag(FileAttributes.Directory))
            MessageBox.Show("Its a directory");
        else
            MessageBox.Show("Its a file");

        string path = Pathfolder.Text;
        FileInfo myfileinf = new FileInfo(path);
        myfileinf.Delete();

    }


}

}

Call from main

static void Main(string[] args)
{ 
   string Filepathe =<Your path>
   DeleteDirectory(System.IO.Directory.GetParent(Filepathe).FullName);              
}

Add this method

public static void DeleteDirectory(string path)
{
    if (Directory.Exists(path))
    {
        //Delete all files from the Directory
        foreach (string file in Directory.GetFiles(path))
        {
            File.Delete(file);
        }
        //Delete all child Directories
        foreach (string directory in Directory.GetDirectories(path))
        {
             DeleteDirectory(directory);
        }
        //Delete a Directory
        Directory.Delete(path);
    }
 }

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:

    Directory.GetFiles(folderName).ForEach(File.Delete)

use DirectoryInfo's GetDirectories method.

foreach (DirectoryInfo subDir in new DirectoryInfo(targetDir).GetDirectories())
                    subDir.Delete(true);

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); 

 foreach (string file in System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(path))
 {
    System.IO.File.Delete(file);
 }

 foreach (string subDirectory in System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(path))
 {
     System.IO.Directory.Delete(subDirectory,true); 
 } 

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);

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();

It's not the best way to deal with the issue above. But it's an alternative one...

while (Directory.GetDirectories(dirpath).Length > 0)
 {
       //Delete all files in directory
       while (Directory.GetFiles(Directory.GetDirectories(dirpath)[0]).Length > 0)
       {
            File.Delete(Directory.GetFiles(dirpath)[0]);
       }
       Directory.Delete(Directory.GetDirectories(dirpath)[0]);
 }

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();
    }
}

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);
        }
    }
}

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);
    }
}

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

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

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

DirectoryInfo Folder = new DirectoryInfo(Server.MapPath(path)); 
if (Folder .Exists)
{
    foreach (FileInfo fl in Folder .GetFiles())
    {
        fl.Delete();
    }

    Folder .Delete();
}

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

In Windows 7, if you have just created it manually with Windows Explorer, the directory structure is similar to this one:

C:
  \AAA
    \BBB
      \CCC
        \DDD

And running the code suggested in the original question to clean the directory C:\AAA, the line di.Delete(true) always fails with IOException "The directory is not empty" when trying to delete BBB. It is probably because of some kind of delays/caching in Windows Explorer.

The following code works reliably for me:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(@"c:\aaa");
    CleanDirectory(di);
}

private static void CleanDirectory(DirectoryInfo di)
{
    if (di == null)
        return;

    foreach (FileSystemInfo fsEntry in di.GetFileSystemInfos())
    {
        CleanDirectory(fsEntry as DirectoryInfo);
        fsEntry.Delete();
    }
    WaitForDirectoryToBecomeEmpty(di);
}

private static void WaitForDirectoryToBecomeEmpty(DirectoryInfo di)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
    {
        if (di.GetFileSystemInfos().Length == 0)
            return;
        Console.WriteLine(di.FullName + i);
        Thread.Sleep(50 * i);
    }
}

IO.Directory.Delete(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(path), True)

You don't need more than that

private void ClearDirectory(string path)
{
    if (Directory.Exists(path))//if folder exists
    {
        Directory.Delete(path, true);//recursive delete (all subdirs, files)
    }
    Directory.CreateDirectory(path);//creates empty directory
}

To delete the folder, this is code using Text box and a button using System.IO; :

private void Deletebt_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    System.IO.DirectoryInfo myDirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"" + delete.Text);

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

This version does not use recursive calls, and solves the readonly problem.

public static void EmptyDirectory(string directory)
{
    // First delete all the files, making sure they are not readonly
    var stackA = new Stack<DirectoryInfo>();
    stackA.Push(new DirectoryInfo(directory));

    var stackB = new Stack<DirectoryInfo>();
    while (stackA.Any())
    {
        var dir = stackA.Pop();
        foreach (var file in dir.GetFiles())
        {
            file.IsReadOnly = false;
            file.Delete();
        }
        foreach (var subDir in dir.GetDirectories())
        {
            stackA.Push(subDir);
            stackB.Push(subDir);
        }
    }

    // Then delete the sub directories depth first
    while (stackB.Any())
    {
        stackB.Pop().Delete();
    }
}

The following example shows how you can do that. It first creates some directories and a file and then removes them via Directory.Delete(topPath, true);:

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string topPath = @"C:\NewDirectory";
        string subPath = @"C:\NewDirectory\NewSubDirectory";

        try
        {
            Directory.CreateDirectory(subPath);

            using (StreamWriter writer = File.CreateText(subPath + @"\example.txt"))
            {
                writer.WriteLine("content added");
            }

            Directory.Delete(topPath, true);

            bool directoryExists = Directory.Exists(topPath);

            Console.WriteLine("top-level directory exists: " + directoryExists);
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.Message);
        }
    }

It is taken from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fxeahc5f(v=vs.110).aspx.

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

 //Or

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

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

The simplest way:

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

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

using System.IO;

string[] filePaths = Directory.GetFiles(@"c:\MyDir\");

foreach (string filePath in filePaths)

File.Delete(filePath);