Command line del c:\mydir\*.* - delete subfolders also

Question

I have a script that runs the command:

del c:\mydir\*.*

Is there a command line switch I can use that will also delete all subfolders in that directory? Thanks!

Answer 1

If there are files in the C:\mydir directory then you'll need to do both lines. Otherwise, the first line will do what you want:

FOR /D %i IN (C:\mydir\*) DO RD /S /Q "%i"
DEL /Q C:\mydir\*.*

That preserves the C:\mydir directory.

Edit: David1235 is quite right. If you want to do this in a batch file, you'll need to double-up the "%" in the "FOR ..." line.

It's a little unclear to me why David1235's script needs the "pushd" and "popd" when you can specify the path right in the "FOR ..." and "DEL ..." lines, though.

Answer 2

If you want to run your script from anywhere, try

@echo off
pushd "C:\mydir"
for /d %%d in (*.*) do rmdir /s /q "%%d"
del /q *.*
popd

In a batch script, you need the double percent signs. From "help for":

To use the FOR command in a batch program, specify %%variable instead
of %variable.  Variable names are case sensitive, so %i is different
from %I.

Answer 3

Is there a reason that:

DEL /Q /S C:\mydir\*

won't work?

Answer 4

Yes, rmdir.

(hint: rmdir /?)

Edit: You probably want to keep the folder. Try this out in a batch file:

@echo off
rmdir C:\mydir /S
mkdir C:\mydir

Answer 5

Instead of complex FOR...LOOPS etc. I would just use:

c:
cd\mydir
del /q *.* /s 

... but an even faster method is:

rd /q /s c:\mydir

as RD is "remove directory" just as the old DELTREE