I would like to delete all files and subfolders in a batch file in Windows 7 and keep the top folder. Basically emptying the folder. What's the command line instruction for that?

3

18 Answers

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

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

12

The best Solution: e.g. i want to delete all files and sub-directories of parent directory lets say "C:\Users\Desktop\New folder\". The easy way is create batch file of below three commands.

cd C:\Users\Desktop\New folder\

del * /S /Q

rmdir /S /Q "C:\Users\Desktop\New folder\"

Here first it will clean all files in all sub-directories and then cleans all empty sub-directories. Since current working directory is parent directory i.e."\New folder", rmdir command can't delete this directory itself.

6

Navigate to the parent directory:

pushd "Parent Directory"

Delete the sub folders:

rd /s /q . 2>nul

5

rmdir "c:\pathofyourdirectory" /q /s

Don't forget to use the quotes and for the /q /s it will delete all the repositories and without prompting.

2

you can use rmdir to delete the files and subfolder, like this:

rmdir /s/q MyFolderPath

However, it is significantly faster, especially when you have a lot of subfolders in your structure to use del before the rmdir, like this:

del /f/s/q MyFolderPath > nul
rmdir /s/q MyFolderPath

2

You can do it quickly and easily by putting these three instructions in your bat file:

mkdir empty_folder
robocopy /mir empty_folder "path_to_directory"
rmdir empty_folder

1

user340956 was painfully close to the solution, but you know what they say about close…

To be clear, rd /s /q c:\foobar deletes the target directory in addition to its contents, but you don't always want to delete the directory itself, sometimes you just want to delete its contents and leave the directory alone. The deltree command could do this, but Micrsoft, in its infinite "wisdom" removed the command and didn't port it to Windows.

Here's a solution that works without resorting to third-party tools. It's probably about as simple and efficient as is possible with a command-line script instead of outright writing an actual executable. It doesn't set any environment variables and it doesn't use any loops. It's also as safe as can be, with error-checking everywhere possible, and also as user-friendly as possible, with built-in docs.

dt.bat (or dt.cmd for the kids; whatever, I'm old, I use .bat 🤷):

:: dt is a Windows-compatible version of the deltree command
:: Posted to SuperUser by Synetech:
@echo off
goto start
:start if ["%~1"]==[""] goto usage pushd "%~1" 2>nul if /i not ["%cd%"]==["%~1"] goto wrongdir rd /s /q "%~1" 2>nul popd
goto :eof
:usage echo Delete all of the contents of a directory echo. echo ^> %0 DIR echo. echo %0 is a substitute for deltree, it recursively deletes the contents echo (files and folders) of a directory, but not the directory itself echo. echo DIR is the directory whose contents are to be deleted
goto :eof
:wrongdir echo Could not change to the target directory. Invalid directory? Access denied?
goto :eof

Here's how it works:

1. It checks if a command-line argument has been passed, and prints usage information and quits if not.
2. It uses pushd to save the current directory, then switch to the target directory, redirecting any errors to nul for a cleaner command-line experience (and cleaner logs).
3. It checks to see if the current directory is now the same as the target directory, and prints an error message and quits if it is not. This avoids accidentally deleting the contents of the previous directory if the pushd command failed (e.g., passing an invalid directory, access-error, etc.)
   • This check is case-insensitive, so it's usually safe on Windows, but isn't for any case-sensitive file-systems like those used by *nix systems, even under Windows.
   • It doesn't work with short-filenames (e.g. C:\Users\Bob Bobson\foobar won't be seen as being the same as C:\Users\BobBob~1\foobar even if they actually are). It's a slight inconvenience to have to use the non-short filename, but it's better safe than sorry, especially since SFNs aren't completely reliable or always predictable (and may even be disabled altogether).
4. It then uses rd to delete the target directory and all of its contents, redirecting any errors (which there should be at least one for the directory itself) to nul. Some notes about this:
   • Because the target directory is the current directory, the system has an open file-handle to it, and thus it cannot actually delete it, so it remains as is, which is the desired behavior.
   • Because it doesn't try to remove the target directory until after its contents have been removed, it should now be empty (other than anything that also has open file handles).
5. Finally, it uses popd to return to the previously-current directory and ends the script.

(If you like, you can comment the script with the above descriptions using rem or ::.)

2

If you want to delete all files in a folder, including all subfolders and not rely on some error conditions to keep the root folder intact (like I saw in another answer) you could have a batch file like this:

@echo off
REM Checking for command line parameter
if "%~1"=="" ( echo Parameter required. exit /b 1
) else ( REM Change directory and keep track of the previous one pushd "%~1" if errorlevel 1 ( REM The directory passed from command line is not valid, stop here. exit /b %errorlevel% ) else ( REM First we delete all files, including the ones in the subdirs, without confirmation del * /S /Q REM Then we delete all the empty subdirs that were left behind for /f %%D IN ('dir /b /s /a:d "%~1"') DO rmdir /S /Q "%%D" REM Change directory back to the previous one popd REM All good. exit /b 0 )
)

And then you would simply call it with:

empty_my_folder.bat "C:\whatever\is\my folder"

1

To delete all subdirectories and their contents use robocopy. Create an empty directory, for example C:\Empty. Let's say you want to empty C:\test which has lots of subdirectories and files and more subdirectories and more files: robocopy c:\empty c:\test /purge then, rd C:\test if need be.

This worked better for me when I had spaces in the folder names.

@echo off
REM ---- Batch file to clean out a folder
REM Checking for command line parameter
if "%~1"=="" (
echo Parameter required.
exit /b 1
) else (
echo *********************************************************************************** echo *** Deleting all files, including the ones in the subdirs, without confirmation *** del "%~1\*" /S /Q
echo *********************************************************************************** REM Deleting all the empty subdirs that were left behind
FOR /R "%~1" %%D IN (.) DO ( if "%%D"=="%~1\." ( echo *** Cleaning out folder: %~1 *** ) else ( echo Removed folder "%%D" rmdir /S /Q "%%D" )
) REM All good. exit /b 0
)

1

To delete file:

del PATH_TO_FILE

To delete folder with all files in it:

rmdir /s /q PATH_TO_FOLDER

To delete all files from specific folder (not deleting folder itself) is a little bit complicated. del /s *.* cannot delete folders, but removes files from all subfolder. So two commands are needed:

del /q PATH_TO_FOLDER\*.*
for /d %i in (PATH_TO_FOLDER\*.*) do @rmdir /s /q "%i"

You can create a script to delete whatever you want (folder or file) like this mydel.bat:

@echo off
setlocal enableextensions
if "%~1"=="" ( echo Usage: %0 path exit /b 1
)
:: check whether it is folder or file
set ISDIR=0
set ATTR=%~a1
set DIRATTR=%ATTR:~0,1%
if /i "%DIRATTR%"=="d" set ISDIR=1
:: Delete folder or file
if %ISDIR%==1 (rmdir /s /q "%~1") else (del "%~1")
exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%

Few example of usage:

mydel.bat "path\to\folder with spaces"
mydel.bat path\to\file_or_folder

If you wanted to empty the folder, my take is:

@ECHO OFF
:choice
cls
set /P c=Which directory? [Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures]
if /I "%c%" EQU "Desktop" set Point = "Desktop"
if /I "%c%" EQU "Documents" set Point = "Documents"
if /I "%c%" EQU "Downloads" set Point = "Downloads"
if /I "%c%" EQU "Pictures" set Point = "Pictures"
if /I "%c%" EQU "Videos" set Point = "Videos"
goto choice
set /P d=Which subdirectory? If you are putting multiple. Your's should be like "path/to/folder" (no files!!)
IF NOT EXIST C:\Users\%USERNAME%\%Point%\%d% GOTO NOWINDIR
rmdir C:\Users\%USERNAME%\%Point%\%d%
mkdir C:\Users\%USERNAME%\%Point%\%d%
:NOWINDIR
mkdir C:\Users\%USERNAME%\%Point%\%d%

---

Simple as that! I hope I helped you out! I recommend you to take the whole code, if you don't want to take the whole code, then you can simplify this with.

IF NOT EXIST *path here* GOTO NOWINDIR
rmdir *path here*
mkdir *path here*
:NOWINDIR
mkdir *path here*

---

EDIT: rmdir won't work if it isn't empty. To fix that.

IF NOT EXIST *path here* GOTO NOWINDIR
del *path here*/* /S /Q (dont copy this, the above prevents the del command from deleting everything in the folder, this is simallar to another answer.)
rmdir *path here*
mkdir *path here*
:NOWINDIR
mkdir *path here*

---

Not sure if this works but...

sdelete -s -p *path here*/*

---

None of the answers already posted here is very good, so I will add my own answer.

Try this:

for /f "delims=" %i in ('dir path\to\folder /s /b /a:-d') do del "%i" /f /q /s
fot /f "delims=" %i in ('dir path\to\folder /s /b /a:d') do rd "%i" /q /s

This should do it.

1

This is what worked for me.

1. Navigate inside the folder where you want to delete the files.
2. Type: del *
3. Y for yes.
4. Done

Example: Delete everything (folders/subfolders/files) in 3D Objects folder but want to leave 3D Objects folder alone

pathThere="C:\Users\PhilosophyPoet\3D Objects" CD pathThere RMDIR /s /q pathThere

When CMD is oriented to working directory, using RMDIR will delete all folders, subfolders and files from the working directory. Seems like CMD process cannot process itself just like 'I can't throw myself into rubbish bin because the rubbish bin need to be seal by someone'

1. What the OP asked for

del /f /s /q "C:\some\Path\*.*"
rmdir /s /q "C:\some\Path"
mkdir "C:\some\Path"

That will remove all files and folders in and including the directory of "C:\some\Path" but remakes the top directory at the end.

2. What most people will want

del /f /s /q "C:\some\Path\*.*"
rmdir /s /q "C:\some\Path"

That will completely remove "C:\some\Path" and all of its contents

If OP has some oddly specific requirement to not touch the top-level directory in any capacity... they should mention that in their question :)

1

Here's a two-line solution I just came up with, possibly exploiting a bug or unexpected behavior in robocopy. This works with the newest version of cmd and robocopy on Windows 10 at this writing.

It mirror syncs an empty sub-folder to its parent folder. In other words, it tells the parent folder to have all the same files as the sub-folder: none. Amusingly, this means it also deletes the empty sub-folder that it is instructed to sync with.

This example will empty the Temp folder for the current user. Note that it is using the %TEMP% environment variable, which cmd expands to whatever that may be, for example C:\Users\Dobby_the_Free\AppData\Local\Temp:

mkdir %TEMP%\i_like_cheez
robocopy /mir %TEMP%\i_like_cheez %TEMP%

this script works with folders with a space in the name

for /f "tokens=*" %%i in ('dir /b /s /a:d "%~1"') do rd /S /Q "%%~i"

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