To delete a directory, you can simply use the File.delete(), but the directory must be empty in order to delete it.
Often times, you may require to perform recursive delete in a directory, which means all it’s sub-directories and files should be delete as well, see below example :
Directory recursive delete example
Delete the directory named “C:\\mkyong-new“, and all it’s sub-directories and files as well. The code is self-explanatory and well documented, it should be easy to understand.
package com.mkyong.file;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
public class DeleteDirectoryExample
{
private static final String SRC_FOLDER = "C:\\mkyong-new";
public static void main(String[] args)
{
File directory = new File(SRC_FOLDER);
//make sure directory exists
if(!directory.exists()){
System.out.println("Directory does not exist.");
System.exit(0);
}else{
try{
delete(directory);
}catch(IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
System.exit(0);
}
}
System.out.println("Done");
}
public static void delete(File file)
throws IOException{
if(file.isDirectory()){
//directory is empty, then delete it
if(file.list().length==0){
file.delete();
System.out.println("Directory is deleted : "
+ file.getAbsolutePath());
}else{
//list all the directory contents
String files[] = file.list();
for (String temp : files) {
//construct the file structure
File fileDelete = new File(file, temp);
//recursive delete
delete(fileDelete);
}
//check the directory again, if empty then delete it
if(file.list().length==0){
file.delete();
System.out.println("Directory is deleted : "
+ file.getAbsolutePath());
}
}
}else{
//if file, then delete it
file.delete();
System.out.println("File is deleted : " + file.getAbsolutePath());
}
}
}
Result
File is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\404.php
File is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\archive.php
...
Directory is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\includes
File is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\index.php
File is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\index.php.hacked
File is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\js\hoverIntent.js
File is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\js\jquery-1.4.2.min.js
File is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\js\jquery.bgiframe.min.js
Directory is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\js\superfish-1.4.8\css
Directory is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\js\superfish-1.4.8\images
Directory is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\js\superfish-1.4.8
File is deleted : C:\mkyong-new\js\superfish-navbar.css
...
Directory is deleted : C:\mkyong-new
Done