How to delete a file from SD card?

Question

I am creating a file to send as an attachment to an email. Now I want to delete the image after sending the email. Is there a way to delete the file?

I have tried myFile.delete(); but it didn't delete the file.

---

I'm using this code for Android, so the programming language is Java using the usual Android ways to access the SD card. I am deleting the file in the onActivityResult method, when an Intent is returned to the screen after sending an email.

Answer 1

File file = new File(selectedFilePath);
boolean deleted = file.delete();

where selectedFilePath is the path of the file you want to delete - for example:

/sdcard/YourCustomDirectory/ExampleFile.mp3

Answer 2

Change for Android 4.4+

Apps are not allowed to write (delete, modify ...) to external storage except to their package-specific directories.

As Android documentation states:

"Apps must not be allowed to write to secondary external storage devices, except in their package-specific directories as allowed by synthesized permissions."

However nasty workaround exists (see code below). Tested on Samsung Galaxy S4, but this fix does't work on all devices. Also I wouldn’t count on this workaround being available in future versions of Android.

There is a great article explaining (4.4+) external storage permissions change.

You can read more about workaround here. Workaround source code is from this site.

public class MediaFileFunctions 
{
    @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
    public static boolean deleteViaContentProvider(Context context, String fullname) 
    { 
      Uri uri=getFileUri(context,fullname); 

      if (uri==null) 
      {
         return false;
      }

      try 
      { 
         ContentResolver resolver=context.getContentResolver(); 

         // change type to image, otherwise nothing will be deleted 
         ContentValues contentValues = new ContentValues(); 
         int media_type = 1; 
         contentValues.put("media_type", media_type); 
         resolver.update(uri, contentValues, null, null); 

         return resolver.delete(uri, null, null) > 0; 
      } 
      catch (Throwable e) 
      { 
         return false; 
      } 
   }

   @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
   private static Uri getFileUri(Context context, String fullname) 
   {
      // Note: check outside this class whether the OS version is >= 11 
      Uri uri = null; 
      Cursor cursor = null; 
      ContentResolver contentResolver = null;

      try
      { 
         contentResolver=context.getContentResolver(); 
         if (contentResolver == null)
            return null;

         uri=MediaStore.Files.getContentUri("external"); 
         String[] projection = new String[2]; 
         projection[0] = "_id"; 
         projection[1] = "_data"; 
         String selection = "_data = ? ";    // this avoids SQL injection 
         String[] selectionParams = new String[1]; 
         selectionParams[0] = fullname; 
         String sortOrder = "_id"; 
         cursor=contentResolver.query(uri, projection, selection, selectionParams, sortOrder); 

         if (cursor!=null) 
         { 
            try 
            { 
               if (cursor.getCount() > 0) // file present! 
               {   
                  cursor.moveToFirst(); 
                  int dataColumn=cursor.getColumnIndex("_data"); 
                  String s = cursor.getString(dataColumn); 
                  if (!s.equals(fullname)) 
                     return null; 
                  int idColumn = cursor.getColumnIndex("_id"); 
                  long id = cursor.getLong(idColumn); 
                  uri= MediaStore.Files.getContentUri("external",id); 
               } 
               else // file isn't in the media database! 
               {   
                  ContentValues contentValues=new ContentValues(); 
                  contentValues.put("_data",fullname); 
                  uri = MediaStore.Files.getContentUri("external"); 
                  uri = contentResolver.insert(uri,contentValues); 
               } 
            } 
            catch (Throwable e) 
            { 
               uri = null; 
            }
            finally
            {
                cursor.close();
            }
         } 
      } 
      catch (Throwable e) 
      { 
         uri=null; 
      } 
      return uri; 
   } 
}

Answer 3

Recursively delete all children of the file ...

public static void DeleteRecursive(File fileOrDirectory)
    {
        if (fileOrDirectory.isDirectory()) 
        {
            for (File child : fileOrDirectory.listFiles())
            {
                DeleteRecursive(child);
            }
        }

        fileOrDirectory.delete();
    }

Answer 4

 public static boolean deleteDirectory(File path) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
    if( path.exists() ) {
        File[] files = path.listFiles();
        for(int i=0; i<files.length; i++) {
            if(files[i].isDirectory()) {
                deleteDirectory(files[i]);
            }
            else {
                files[i].delete();
            }
        }
    }
    return(path.delete());
 }

This Code will Help you.. And In Android Manifest You have to get Permission to make modification..

 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

Answer 5

Android Context has the following method:

public abstract boolean deleteFile (String name)

I believe this will do what you want with the right App premissions as listed above.

Answer 6

Try this.

File file = new File(FilePath);
FileUtils.deleteDirectory(file);

from Apache Commons