Modern Fs RemoveDirAll

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RemoveDirAll

Deletes a folder and all it holds without following links; returns how many it removed.

Syntax

RemoveDirAll( p )

Notes

• rm -rf; FsResultI64, the number of objects removed, p itself included.
• A symbolic link or junction inside the tree is removed as a link and never entered.
• p itself a link is refused with FS_NOT_A_DIRECTORY, and nothing is deleted; so is a file. Remove a link with RemoveFile (or RemoveDir for a directory link on Windows).
• Every directory is opened relative to its already-open parent, without following a link, and every deletion is made relative to an open directory. A subdirectory that another process swaps for a link while the removal runs is removed as the link it has become; what the link points to is not touched.
• Read-only files are removed, as rm -rf and del /f do.
• On failure it reports the first error and stops. An entry that disappears meanwhile is not an error.

Examples

#import "std/fs"
using fs

'' Everything below happens inside a temp directory of its own, and is
'' removed at the end
dim td as FsResultUStr = CreateTempDir( "fbdoc" )
dim as ustring dir_ = td.Value( )

'' rm -rf, and it returns THE NUMBER OF OBJECTS REMOVED rather than a
'' bare success flag
CreateDirAll( PathJoin( dir_, "a", "b" ) )
WriteAllText( PathJoin( dir_, "a", "f.txt" ), "x" )

dim r as FsResultI64 = RemoveDirAll( PathJoin( dir_, "a" ) )
print r.IsOk( )              '' true
print r.Value( )             '' 3 -- b, f.txt and a itself

print Exists( PathJoin( dir_, "a" ) )    '' false

RemoveDirAll( dir_ )

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Library: Filesystem Library
Category: Filesystem
Documented under: File Operations