C# delete a folder and all files and folders within that folder

cdirectory

I'm trying to delete a folder and all files and folders within that folder, I'm using the code below and I get the error Folder is not empty, any suggestions on what I can do?

try
{
  var dir = new DirectoryInfo(@FolderPath);
  dir.Attributes = dir.Attributes & ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
  dir.Delete();
  dataGridView1.Rows.RemoveAt(dataGridView1.SelectedRows[i].Index);
}
catch (IOException ex)
{
  MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}

Best Answer

dir.Delete(true); // true => recursive delete

Related Solutions

Visual-studio – How to rename a project folder from within Visual Studio

TFS users: If you are using source control that requires you to warn it before your rename files/folders then look at this answer instead which covers the extra steps required.

To rename a project's folder, file (.*proj) and display name in Visual Studio:

Close the solution.
Rename the folder(s) outside Visual Studio. (Rename in TFS if using source control)
Open the solution, ignoring the warnings (answer "no" if asked to load a project from source control).
Go through all the unavailable projects and...
- Open the properties window for the project (highlight the project and press Alt+Enter or F4, or right-click > properties).
- Set the property 'File Path' to the new location.
  - If the property is not editable (as in Visual Studio 2012), then open the .sln file directly in another editor such as Notepad++ and update the paths there instead. (You may need to check-out the solution first in TFS, etc.)
- Reload the project - right-click > reload project.
- Change the display name of the project, by highlighting it and pressing F2, or right-click > rename.

Note: Other suggested solutions that involve removing and then re-adding the project to the solution will break project references.

If you perform these steps then you might also consider renaming the following to match:

Assembly
Default/Root Namespace
Namespace of existing files (use the refactor tools in Visual Studio or ReSharper's inconsistent namespaces tool)

Also consider modifying the values of the following assembly attributes:

AssemblyProductAttribute
AssemblyDescriptionAttribute
AssemblyTitleAttribute

C# – How to delete all files and folders in a directory

System.IO.DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo("YourPath");

foreach (FileInfo file in di.GetFiles())
{
    file.Delete(); 
}
foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in di.GetDirectories())
{
    dir.Delete(true); 
}

If your directory may have many files, EnumerateFiles() is more efficient than GetFiles(), because when you use EnumerateFiles() you can start enumerating it before the whole collection is returned, as opposed to GetFiles() where you need to load the entire collection in memory before begin to enumerate it. See this quote here:

Therefore, when you are working with many files and directories, EnumerateFiles() can be more efficient.

The same applies to EnumerateDirectories() and GetDirectories(). So the code would be:

foreach (FileInfo file in di.EnumerateFiles())
{
    file.Delete(); 
}
foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in di.EnumerateDirectories())
{
    dir.Delete(true); 
}

For the purpose of this question, there is really no reason to use GetFiles() and GetDirectories().

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Visual-studio – How to rename a project folder from within Visual Studio

C# – How to delete all files and folders in a directory

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