"rm -rf" equivalent for Windows?
I need a way to recursively delete a folder and its children.
Is there a prebuilt tool for this, or do I need to write one?
DEL /S
doesn't delete directories.
DELTREE
was removed from Windows 2000+
RMDIR or RD if you are using the classic Command Prompt (cmd.exe):
rd /s /q "path"
RMDIR [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
RD [/S] [/Q] [drive:]path
/S Removes all directories and files in the specified directory in addition to the directory itself. Used to remove a directory tree.
/Q Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to remove a directory tree with /S
If you are using PowerShell you can use Remove-Item
(which is aliased to del
, erase
, rd
, ri
, rm
and rmdir
) and takes a -Recurse
argument that can be shorted to -r
rd -r "path"
admin:
takeown /r /f folder
cacls folder /c /G "ADMINNAME":F /T
rmdir /s folder
Works for anything including sys files
EDIT: I actually found the best way which also solves file path too long problem as well:
mkdir \empty
robocopy /mir \empty folder