Name
Directory.Delete Method
Class
System.IO.Directory
Syntax
Directory.Delete(path
[,recursive
])
-
path
(required; String) The path of the folder to delete.
-
recursive
(optional; Boolean) Indicates whether the folder and its contents are to be deleted if the folder is not empty. Its default value is
False
.
Return Value
None
Description
Removes or deletes an existing directory
Rules at a Glance
If
path
does not exist, the method generates a runtime error.If
recursive
is set toFalse
(its default value), the directory must be empty to be successfully deleted; otherwise, a runtime error will be generated.If
recursive
is set toTrue
, the method will delete not only the final directory inpath
, but also of its files and all of its subdirectories, as well as all nested subdirectories and nested files.path
can be either an absolute path (a complete path from the root directory to the directory whose existence is to be confirmed) or a relative path (starting from the current directory to the path whose existence is to be confirmed).path
can be either a path on the local system, the path of a mapped network drive, or a UNC path.path
cannot contain wildcard characters.
Programming Tips and Gotchas
The Delete method permanently deletes directories and their contents. It doesn’t move them to the Recycle Bin.
Care must be taken when setting
recursive
toTrue
due to the danger of accidentally removing files, especially since the method does not prompt whether it should delete any folders or files. ...
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