How to remove a directory that is not empty -- Visual FoxPro : Using Win32 (WinAPI) Functions


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How to remove a directory that is not empty

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Before you begin:

As you know, a call to RMDIR() generates an error (#1962) if the target directory is not empty, i.e. contains files or subdirectories.

The most obvious way to overcome this sometimes useful obstacle is writing a recursion that combines ADIR and DELETE FILE | RMDIR calls.

As an alternative, the Windows Scripting has its own solution:

fso = CREATEOBJECT("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
fso.DeleteFolder("c:\temp\test")

And still one more way exists, presented in the code sample below. A directory can be recursively deleted by calling the SHFileOperation API function.

See also:

Deleting file into the Recycle Bin

How to empty the Recycle Bin

Displaying standard progress dialog box when copying file


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User rating: 10/10 (1 votes)

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2583 bytes
Created: 2008-12-08 17:26:29
Modified: 2012-07-09 13:16:58
Visits in 7 days: 141

Listed functions:

GetActiveWindow
GlobalAlloc
GlobalFree
GlobalSize
SHFileOperation

My comment:

As I see it, the SHFileOperation is a better choice just for being more flexible. That of course comes at a price of extra coding required for handling the SHFILEOPSTRUCT structure.

The SHFileOperation deletes files and subdirectories inside the target directory recursively.

The file deletion process aborts whenever it encounters an undeletable object. The call returns an error code (for example 32, File Sharing Violation). The files and subdirectories following the file in question do not get deleted in this take.

* * *
.NET has more than one way for deleting a directory.

System.IO Directory.Delete throws an exception when the path is not an empty directory.

While System.IO DirectoryInfo.Delete can delete files and directories recursively.

Word Index links for this example:

SHFILEOPSTRUCT structure

file sharing violation

empty directory

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