Delete directories recursively in Java

Question

Is there a way to delete entire directories recursively in Java?

In the normal case it is possible to delete an empty directory. However when it comes to deleting entire directories with contents, it is not that simple anymore.

How do you delete entire directories with contents in Java?

Answer 1

If you have Spring, you can use FileSystemUtils.deleteRecursively:

import org.springframework.util.FileSystemUtils;

boolean success = FileSystemUtils.deleteRecursively(new File("directory"));

Answer 2

An optimal solution that handles exception consistently with the approach that an exception thrown from a method should always describe what that method was trying (and failed) to do:

private void deleteRecursive(File f) throws Exception {
    try {
        if (f.isDirectory()) {
            for (File c : f.listFiles()) {
                deleteRecursive(c);
            }
        }
        if (!f.delete()) {
            throw new Exception("Delete command returned false for file: " + f);
        }
    } 
    catch (Exception e) {
        throw new Exception("Failed to delete the folder: " + f, e);
    }
}

Answer 3

In legacy projects, I need to create native Java code. I create this code similar to Paulitex code. See that:

public class FileHelper {

   public static boolean delete(File fileOrFolder) {
      boolean result = true;
      if(fileOrFolder.isDirectory()) {
         for (File file : fileOrFolder.listFiles()) {
            result = result && delete(file);
         }
      }
      result = result && fileOrFolder.delete();
      return result;
   } 
}

And the unit test:

public class FileHelperTest {

    @Before
    public void setup() throws IOException {
       new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE/SUBFOLDER").mkdirs();
       new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE/SUBFOLDER_TWO").mkdirs();
       new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE/SUBFOLDER_TWO/TEST_FILE.txt").createNewFile();
    }

    @Test
    public void deleteFolderWithFiles() {
       File folderToDelete = new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE");
       Assert.assertTrue(FileHelper.delete(folderToDelete));
       Assert.assertFalse(new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE").exists());
    }

}

Answer 4

static public void deleteDirectory(File path) 
{
    if (path == null)
        return;
    if (path.exists())
    {
        for(File f : path.listFiles())
        {
            if(f.isDirectory()) 
            {
                deleteDirectory(f);
                f.delete();
            }
            else
            {
                f.delete();
            }
        }
        path.delete();
    }
}

Answer 5

One-liner solution (Java8) to delete all files and directories recursively including starting directory:

Files.walk(Paths.get("c:/dir_to_delete/"))
                .map(Path::toFile)
                .sorted((o1, o2) -> -o1.compareTo(o2))
                .forEach(File::delete);

We use a comparator for reversed order, otherwise File::delete won't be able to delete possibly non-empty directory. So, if you want to keep directories and only delete files just remove the comparator in sorted() or remove sorting completely and add files filter:

Files.walk(Paths.get("c:/dir_to_delete/"))
                .filter(Files::isRegularFile)
                .map(Path::toFile)
                .forEach(File::delete);