How to delete a folder with files using Java

Question

I want to create and delete a directory using Java, but it isn't working.

File index = new File("/home/Work/Indexer1");
if (!index.exists()) {
    index.mkdir();
} else {
    index.delete();
    if (!index.exists()) {
        index.mkdir();
    }
}

Answer 1

This works, and while it looks inefficient to skip the directory test, it's not: the test happens right away in listFiles().

void deleteDir(File file) {
    File[] contents = file.listFiles();
    if (contents != null) {
        for (File f : contents) {
            deleteDir(f);
        }
    }
    file.delete();
}

Update, to avoid following symbolic links:

void deleteDir(File file) {
    File[] contents = file.listFiles();
    if (contents != null) {
        for (File f : contents) {
            if (! Files.isSymbolicLink(f.toPath())) {
                deleteDir(f);
            }
        }
    }
    file.delete();
}

Answer 2

Remove it from else part

File index = new File("/home/Work/Indexer1");
if (!index.exists())
{
     index.mkdir();
     System.out.println("Dir Not present. Creating new one!");
}
index.delete();
System.out.println("File deleted successfully");

Answer 3

You can use FileUtils.deleteDirectory. JAVA can't delete the non-empty foldres with File.delete().

Answer 4

This is the best solution for Java 7+:

public static void deleteDirectory(String directoryFilePath) throws IOException
{
    Path directory = Paths.get(directoryFilePath);

    if (Files.exists(directory))
    {
        Files.walkFileTree(directory, new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>()
        {
            @Override
            public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path path, BasicFileAttributes basicFileAttributes) throws IOException
            {
                Files.delete(path);
                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
            }

            @Override
            public FileVisitResult postVisitDirectory(Path directory, IOException ioException) throws IOException
            {
                Files.delete(directory);
                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
            }
        });
    }
}

Answer 5

You can use this function

public void delete()    
{   
    File f = new File("E://implementation1/");
    File[] files = f.listFiles();
    for (File file : files) {
        file.delete();
    }
}

Answer 6

Java isn't able to delete folders with data in it. You have to delete all files before deleting the folder.

Use something like:

String[]entries = index.list();
for(String s: entries){
    File currentFile = new File(index.getPath(),s);
    currentFile.delete();
}

Then you should be able to delete the folder by using index.delete() Untested!