how to empty recyclebin through command prompt?

Question

Usually we delete the recycle bin contents by right-clicking it with the mouse and selecting "Empty Recycle Bin". But I have a requirement where I need to delete the recycle bin contents using the command prompt. Is this possible? If so, how can I achieve it?

Answer 1

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I thought I might contribute my subjectively more graceful solution.

I was looking for a script that would empty the Recycle Bin with an API call, rather than crudely deleting all files and folders from the filesystem. Having failed in my attempts to RecycleBinObject.InvokeVerb("Empty Recycle &Bin") (which apparently only works in XP or older), I stumbled upon discussions of using a function embedded in shell32.dll called SHEmptyRecycleBin() from a compiled language. I thought, hey, I can do that in PowerShell and wrap it in a batch script hybrid.

Save this with a .bat extension and run it to empty your Recycle Bin. Run it with a /y switch to skip the confirmation.

<# : batch portion (begins PowerShell multi-line comment block)
:: empty.bat -- http://stackoverflow.com/a/41195176/1683264

@echo off & setlocal

if /i "%~1"=="/y" goto empty

choice /n /m "Are you sure you want to empty the Recycle Bin? [y/n] "
if not errorlevel 2 goto empty
goto :EOF

:empty
powershell -noprofile "iex (${%~f0} | out-string)" && (
    echo Recycle Bin successfully emptied.
)
goto :EOF

: end batch / begin PowerShell chimera #>
Add-Type shell32 @'
    [DllImport("shell32.dll")]
    public static extern int SHEmptyRecycleBin(IntPtr hwnd, string pszRootPath,
        int dwFlags);
'@ -Namespace System

$SHERB_NOCONFIRMATION = 0x1
$SHERB_NOPROGRESSUI = 0x2
$SHERB_NOSOUND = 0x4

$dwFlags = $SHERB_NOCONFIRMATION
$res = [shell32]::SHEmptyRecycleBin([IntPtr]::Zero, $null, $dwFlags)

if ($res) { "Error 0x{0:x8}: {1}" -f $res,`
    (New-Object ComponentModel.Win32Exception($res)).Message }
exit $res

---

Here's a more complex version which first invokes SHQueryRecycleBin() to determine whether the bin is already empty prior to invoking SHEmptyRecycleBin(). For this one, I got rid of the choice confirmation and /y switch.

<# : batch portion (begins PowerShell multi-line comment block)
:: empty.bat -- http://stackoverflow.com/a/41195176/1683264

@echo off & setlocal
powershell -noprofile "iex (${%~f0} | out-string)"
goto :EOF

: end batch / begin PowerShell chimera #>
Add-Type @'

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace shell32 {
    public struct SHQUERYRBINFO {
        public Int32 cbSize; public UInt64 i64Size; public UInt64 i64NumItems;
    };

    public static class dll {
        [DllImport("shell32.dll")]
        public static extern int SHQueryRecycleBin(string pszRootPath,
            out SHQUERYRBINFO pSHQueryRBInfo);

        [DllImport("shell32.dll")]
        public static extern int SHEmptyRecycleBin(IntPtr hwnd, string pszRootPath,
            int dwFlags);
    }
}
'@

$rb = new-object shell32.SHQUERYRBINFO

# for Win 10 / PowerShell v5
try { $rb.cbSize = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SizeOf($rb) }
# for Win 7 / PowerShell v2
catch { $rb.cbSize = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SizeOf($rb.GetType()) }

[void][shell32.dll]::SHQueryRecycleBin($null, [ref]$rb)
"Current size of Recycle Bin: {0:N0} bytes" -f $rb.i64Size
"Recycle Bin contains {0:N0} item{1}." -f $rb.i64NumItems, ("s" * ($rb.i64NumItems -ne 1))

if (-not $rb.i64NumItems) { exit 0 }

$dwFlags = @{
    "SHERB_NOCONFIRMATION" = 0x1
    "SHERB_NOPROGRESSUI" = 0x2
    "SHERB_NOSOUND" = 0x4
}
$flags = $dwFlags.SHERB_NOCONFIRMATION
$res = [shell32.dll]::SHEmptyRecycleBin([IntPtr]::Zero, $null, $flags)

if ($res) { 
    write-host -f yellow ("Error 0x{0:x8}: {1}" -f $res,`
        (New-Object ComponentModel.Win32Exception($res)).Message)
} else {
    write-host "Recycle Bin successfully emptied." -f green
}
exit $res

Answer 2

Yes, you can Make a Batch file with the following code:

cd \Desktop

echo $Shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application >>FILENAME.ps1
echo $RecBin = $Shell.Namespace(0xA) >>FILENAME.ps1
echo $RecBin.Items() ^| %%{Remove-Item $_.Path -Recurse -Confirm:$false} >>FILENAME.ps1


REM The actual lines being writen are right, exept for the last one, the actual thigs being writen are "$RecBin.Items() | %{Remove-Item $_.Path -Recurse -Confirm:$false}"   
But since | and % screw things up, i had to make some changes.

Powershell.exe -executionpolicy remotesigned -File  C:\Desktop\FILENAME.ps1

This basically creates a powershell script that empties the trash in the \Desktop directory, then runs it.

Answer 3

I use this powershell oneliner:

gci C:\`$recycle.bin -force | remove-item -recurse -force

Works for different drives than C:, too

Answer 4

I prefer recycle.exe from Frank P. Westlake. It provides a nice before and after status. (I've been using Frank's various utilities for well over ten years..)

C:\> recycle.exe /E /F
Recycle Bin: ALL
    Recycle Bin C:  44 items, 42,613,970 bytes.
    Recycle Bin D:   0 items, 0 bytes.
            Total:  44 items, 42,613,970 bytes.

Emptying Recycle Bin: ALL
    Recycle Bin C:   0 items, 0 bytes.
    Recycle Bin D:   0 items, 0 bytes.
            Total:   0 items, 0 bytes.

It also has many more uses and options (output listed is from /?).

Recycle all files and folders in C:\TEMP:
  RECYCLE C:\TEMP\*

List all DOC files which were recycled from any directory on the C: drive:
  RECYCLE /L C:\*.DOC

Restore all DOC files which were recycled from any directory on the C: drive:
  RECYCLE /U C:\*.DOC

Restore C:\temp\junk.txt to C:\docs\resume.txt:
  RECYCLE /U "C:\temp\junk.txt" "C:\docs\resume.txt"

Rename in place C:\etc\config.cfg to C:\archive\config.2007.cfg:
  RECYCLE /R "C:\etc\config.cfg" "C:\archive\config.2007.cfg"

Answer 5

You can effectively "empty" the Recycle Bin from the command line by permanently deleting the Recycle Bin directory on the drive that contains the system files. (In most cases, this will be the C: drive, but you shouldn't hardcode that value because it won't always be true. Instead, use the %systemdrive% environment variable.)

The reason that this tactic works is because each drive has a hidden, protected folder with the name $Recycle.bin, which is where the Recycle Bin actually stores the deleted files and folders. When this directory is deleted, Windows automatically creates a new directory.

So, to remove the directory, use the rd command (r​emove d​irectory) with the /s parameter, which indicates that all of the files and directories within the specified directory should be removed as well:

rd /s %systemdrive%\$Recycle.bin

Do note that this action will permanently delete all files and folders currently in the Recycle Bin from all user accounts. Additionally, you will (obviously) have to run the command from an elevated command prompt in order to have sufficient privileges to perform this action.