Delete files or folder recursively on Windows CMD

Question

How do I delete files or folders recursively on Windows from the command line?

I have found this solution where path we drive on the command line and run this command.

I have given an example with a .svn file extension folder:

for /r %R in (.svn) do if exist %R (rd /s /q "%R")

Answer 1

The other answers didn't work for me, but this did:

del /s /q *.svn
rmdir /s /q *.svn

/q disables Yes/No prompting

/s means delete the file(s) from all subdirectories.

Answer 2

Please execute the following steps:

1. Open the command prompt
2. Change directory to the required path

3. Give the following command

   del /S *.svn
   

Answer 3

You can use this in the bat script:

rd /s /q "c:\folder a"

Now, just change c:\folder a to your folder's location. Quotation is only needed when your folder name contains spaces.

Answer 4

RMDIR path_to_folder /S

ex. RMDIR "C:\tmp" /S

Note that you'll be prompted if you're really going to delete the "C:\tmp" folder. Combining it with /Q switch will remove the folder silently (ex. RMDIR "C:\tmp" /S /Q)

Answer 5

For file deletion, I wrote following simple batch file which deleted all .pdf's recursively:

del /s /q "\\ad1pfrtg001\AppDev\ResultLogs\*.pdf"
del /s /q "\\ad1pfrtg001\Project\AppData\*.pdf"

Even for the local directory we can use it as:

del /s /q "C:\Project\*.pdf"

The same can be applied for directory deletion where we just need to change del with rmdir.

Answer 6

If you want to delete a specific extension recursively, use this:

For /R "C:\Users\Desktop\saleh" %G IN (*.ppt) do del "%G"

Answer 7

You could also do:

del /s /p *.{your extension here}

The /p will prompt you for each found file, if you're nervous about deleting something you shouldn't.

Answer 8

After the blog post How Can I Use Windows PowerShell to Delete All the .TMP Files on a Drive?, you can use something like this to delete all .tmp for example from a folder and all subfolders in PowerShell:

get-childitem [your path/ or leave empty for current path] -include
*.tmp -recurse | foreach ($_) {remove-item $_.fullname}

Answer 9

Use the Windows rmdir command

That is, rmdir /S /Q C:\Temp

I'm also using the ones below for some years now, flawlessly.

Check out other options with: forfiles /?

Delete SQM/Telemetry in windows folder recursively

forfiles /p %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\LogFiles /s /m *.* /d -1 /c "cmd /c del @file"

Delete windows TMP files recursively

forfiles /p %SYSTEMROOT%\Temp /s /m *.* /d -1 /c "cmd /c del @file"

Delete user TEMP files and folders recursively

forfiles /p %TMP% /s /m *.* /d -1 /c "cmd /c del @file"

Answer 10

For completely wiping a folder with native commands and getting a log on what's been done.

here's an unusual way to do it :

let's assume we want to clear the d:\temp dir

mkdir d:\empty
robocopy /mir d:\empty d:\temp
rmdir d:\empty

Answer 11

For hidden files I had to use the following:

DEL /S /Q /A:H Thumbs.db

Answer 12

dir /b %temp% >temp.list
for /f "delims=" %%a in (temp.list) do call rundll32.exe advpack.dll,DelNodeRunDLL32 "%temp%\%%a"

Answer 13

It worked for me

del /s /q "dir_name"