How to mass remove symbolic links in Windows (among regular files that share similar name in many folders)?
This is similar to JdeBP's answer, but it doesn't require any external software:
FOR /F "usebackq delims=" %a IN (`DIR /a:l /s /b "C:\dir\with\symlinks"`) DO RMDIR "%a"
When used in a script, substitute %a with %%a.
Using the SFUA utility toolkit:
Finding symbolic links can be done the same ways as finding hard links: using the find command that is in Microsoft's SFUA utility toolkit, that runs in the Subsystem for Unix-based Applications:
find . -type l|xargs rm --
Using JP Software's TCC/LE:
This is a simple exercise in the use of attribute switches and the ordinary del command:
del /a:l *You can, of course, use the
/s, /p, and other options to the del command. And you can preview what would be deleted either by using del's /n option or simply by substituting dir for del.
Caveat
Both of these actually find reparse points. Symbolic links are but one form of reparse points. If you have others, such as junctions, you'll have to be careful about what parts of your directory tree you apply these commands to. Using date ranges to only delete files with recent creation dates (/[dc…]) might be profitable as well.