Delete directory files java

Change Language. Related Articles. Flow Control. OOP Concepts. Exception Handling. File Handling. Table of Contents. Improve Article. Save Article. Like Article. Top 3 video Explaining How to delete a folder with files using Java.

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How do I convert a String to an int in Java? Documentation here. Java isn't able to delete folders with data in it. You have to delete all files before deleting the folder. This works, and while it looks inefficient to skip the directory test, it's not: the test happens right away in listFiles.

In JDK 7 you could use Files. As mentioned, Java is unable to delete a folder containing files, so first delete the files and then the folder. One more choice is to use Spring's org. FileSystemUtils relevant method which will recursively delete all content of the directory. Use only if there are no symlinks pointing out of the directory to delete. This question is well-indexed by Google, so other people usig Guava might be happy to find this answer, even if it is redundant with other answers elsewhere.

I like this solution the most. It does not use 3rd party library, instead it uses NIO2 of Java 7. This means that you are creating the file again after deleting File. So if you want to check then do System. If you have subfolders, you will find troubles with the Cemron answers. You can use FileUtils. JAVA can't delete the non-empty foldres with File.

With Apache commons io FileUtils, contrary to the "pure" Java variants a folder does not need to be empty to be deleted. To give you a better overview I list the variants here, the following 3 may throw exceptions for various reasons:. One more thing to know is dealing with symbolic links , it will delete the symbolic link and not the target folder Also keep in mind that deleting a large file or folder can be a blocking operation for a good while Most of answers even recent referencing JDK classes rely on File.

The java. Note that the java. Files class defines the delete method to throw an IOException when a file cannot be deleted. This is useful for error reporting and to diagnose why a file cannot be deleted. As replacement, you should favor Files. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams?

Collectives on Stack Overflow. Learn more. How to delete a folder with files using Java Ask Question. Asked 8 years, 1 month ago. Active 6 months ago. Viewed k times. I want to create and delete a directory using Java, but it isn't working. Improve this question. Francesco Menzani 8, 13 13 gold badges 43 43 silver badges 79 79 bronze badges. G 3, 2 2 gold badges 15 15 silver badges 19 19 bronze badges. What happened when you tried?

What is the question? Refer How to delete a directory in Java — Aniket Thakur. Unfortunately, AniketThakur, that approach will follow symbolic links and delete files and directories that may not have been intended. Show 5 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Just a one-liner. FileUtils; FileUtils. Improve this answer. OhadR 7, 3 3 gold badges 41 41 silver badges 48 48 bronze badges. Barry Knapp Barry Knapp 2, 1 1 gold badge 13 13 silver badges 9 9 bronze badges. This is a one-liner with an external dependency, which is an important thing to keep in mind.

The only time using an external dependency like this is this simple is when you're doing a personal home project, or your company really doesn't care about the possibility of getting sued.