Delete all files and folders in a directory

I want to have a batch file that will delete all the folders and files in my cache folder for my wireless toolkit.

Currently I have the following:

cd "C:\Users\tbrollo\j2mewtk\2.5.2\appdb\RMS" del *.db 

This will delete all .db files in my RMS directory, however I want to delete every single thing from this directory. How can I do this?

17 Answers

Use:

• Create a batch file

• Copy the below text into the batch file

  set folder="C:\test" cd /d %folder% for /F "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b') do (rmdir "%%i" /s/q || del "%%i" /s/q) 

It will delete all files and folders.

del *.* instead of del *.db. That will remove everything.

IF EXIST "C:\Users\tbrollo\j2mewtk\2.5.2\appdb\RMS" ( rmdir "C:\Users\tbrollo\j2mewtk\2.5.2\appdb\RMS" /s /q ) 

This will delete everything from the folder (and the folder itself).

I just put this together from what morty346 posted:

set folder="C:\test" IF EXIST "%folder%" ( cd /d %folder% for /F "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b') do (rmdir "%%i" /s/q || del "%%i" /s/q) ) 

It adds a quick check that the folder defined in the variable exists first, changes directory to the folder, and deletes the contents.

del *.* will only delete files, but not subdirectories. To nuke the contents of a directory, you can use this script:

@echo off setlocal enableextensions if {%1}=={} goto :HELP if {%1}=={/?} goto :HELP goto :START :HELP echo Usage: %~n0 directory-name echo. echo Empties the contents of the specified directory, echo WITHOUT CONFIRMATION. USE EXTREME CAUTION! goto :DONE :START pushd %1 || goto :DONE rd /q /s . 2> NUL popd :DONE endlocal 

The pushd changes into the directory of which you want to delete the children. Then when rd asks to delete the current directory and all sub directories, the deletion of the sub directories succeed, but the deletion of the current directory fails - because we are in it. This produces an error which 2> NUL swallows. (2 being the error stream).

You can do this using del and the /S flag (to tell it to recurse all files from all subdirectories):

del /S C:\Path\to\directory\* 

The RD command can also be used. Recursively delete quietly without a prompt:

@RD /S /Q %VAR_PATH% 

Rmdir (rd)

set "DIR_TO_DELETE=your_path_to_the_folder" IF EXIST %DIR_TO_DELETE% ( FOR /D %%p IN ("%DIR_TO_DELETE%\*.*") DO rmdir "%%p" /S /Q del %DIR_TO_DELETE%\*.* /F /Q ) 

Use

set dir="Your Folder Path Here" rmdir /s %dir% mkdir %dir% 

This version deletes without asking:

set dir="Your Folder Here" rmdir /s /q %dir% mkdir %dir% 

Example:

set dir="C:\foo1\foo\foo\foo3" rmdir /s /q %dir% mkdir %dir% 

This will clear C:\foo1\foo\foo\foo3.

_{(I would like to mention Abdullah Sabouin's answer. There was a mix up about me copying him. I did not notice his post. I would like to thank you melpomene for pointing out errors!)}

Try the following; it works for me.

I have an application which dumps data in my "C:\tmp" folder, and the following works the best for me. It doesn't even ask Yes or No to delete the data. I have made a schedule for it to run after every 5 minutes

cd "C:\tmp" del *.* /Q 

Better yet, let's say I want to remove everything under the C:\windows\temp folder.

@echo off rd C:\windows\temp /s /q 

You could use robocopy to mirror an empty folder to the folder you are clearing.

robocopy "C:\temp\empty" "C:\temp\target" /E /MIR 

It also works if you can't remove or recreate the actual folder.

It does require an existing empty directory.

You cannot delete everything with either rmdir or del alone:

• rmdir /s /q does not accept wildcard params. So rmdir /s /q * will error.
• del /s /f /q will delete all files, but empty subdirectories will remain.

My preferred solution (as I have used in many other batch files) is:

rmdir /s /q . 2>NUL 

Just a modified version of GregM's answer:

set folder="C:\test" cd /D %folder% if NOT %errorlevel% == 0 (exit /b 1) echo Entire content of %cd% will be deleted. Press Ctrl-C to abort pause REM First the directories /ad option of dir for /F "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b /ad') do (echo rmdir "%%i" /s/q) REM Now the files /a-d option of dir for /F "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b /a-d') do (echo del "%%i" /q) REM To deactivate simulation mode remove the word 'echo' before 'rmdir' and 'del'. 

Easy simple answer :

C: del /S /Q C:\folderName\oderFolderName\* 

C: Important in case you have to switch from D: to C: or C: to D: (or anything else)

/S Recursive, all subfolders are deleted along

/Q If you don't activate quiet mode, prompt will ask you to type y for every subfolders... you don't want that

Be carful, it's drastic.

I would like to suggest using simple tool like cleardir. So, in batch file you can write:

cleardir path/to/dir 

And you'll get empty directory dir. A bit slow, but still resolves the "problem".

I'm an author of the tool =)

The easiest way is:

1. Create *.txt file
2. Write: rmdir /q /s . dir
3. Save file as *.bat in folder which you want to clear (you can call the file NUKE.bat)
4. Turn it on

WARNING!

THIS DELETES EVERYTHING IN THE FOLDER WHERE IT IS WITHOUT ASKING FOR CONFIRMATION!!!

SO CHOOSE WISELY PLACE FOR SAVING IT.

@echo off @color 0A echo Deleting logs rmdir /S/Q c:\log\ ping 1.1.1.1 -n 5 -w 1000 > nul echo Adding log folder back md c:\log\ 

You was on the right track. Just add code to add the folder which is deleted back again.