Deletes this instance of a DirectoryInfo, specifying whether to delete subdirectories and files.
Public Sub Delete ( _ recursive As Boolean _ )
public void Delete( bool recursive )
public: void Delete( bool recursive )
member Delete : recursive:bool -> unit
The directory contains a read-only file.
The directory described by this DirectoryInfo object does not exist or could not be found.
The directory is read-only.
-or-
The directory contains one or more files or subdirectories and recursive is false.
The directory is the application's current working directory.
There is an open handle on the directory or on one of its files, and the operating system is Windows XP or earlier. This open handle can result from enumerating directories and files. For more information, see How to: Enumerate Directories and Files.
The caller does not have the required permission.
If the DirectoryInfo has no files or subdirectories, this method deletes the DirectoryInfo even if recursive is false. Attempting to delete a DirectoryInfo that is not empty when recursive is false throws an IOException.
For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.
The following example demonstrates deleting a directory. Because the directory is removed, first comment out the Delete line to test that the directory exists. Then uncomment the same line of code to test that the directory was removed successfully.
Imports System Imports System.IO Public Class DeleteTest Public Shared Sub Main() ' Make a reference to a directory. Dim di As New DirectoryInfo("TempDir") ' Create the directory only if it does not already exist. If di.Exists = False Then di.Create() End If Dim dis As DirectoryInfo = di.CreateSubdirectory("SubDir") ' Create a subdirectory in the directory just created. ' Process that directory as required. ' ... ' Delete the subdirectory. The true indicates that if subdirectories ' or files are in this directory, they are to be deleted as well. dis.Delete(True) ' Delete the directory. di.Delete(True) End Sub 'Main End Class 'DeleteTest
using System; using System.IO; public class DeleteTest { public static void Main() { // Make a reference to a directory. DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo("TempDir"); // Create the directory only if it does not already exist. if (di.Exists == false) di.Create(); // Create a subdirectory in the directory just created. DirectoryInfo dis = di.CreateSubdirectory("SubDir"); // Process that directory as required. // ... // Delete the subdirectory. The true indicates that if subdirectories // or files are in this directory, they are to be deleted as well. dis.Delete(true); // Delete the directory. di.Delete(true); } }
using namespace System; using namespace System::IO; int main() { // Make a reference to a directory. DirectoryInfo^ di = gcnew DirectoryInfo( "TempDir" ); // Create the directory only if it does not already exist. if ( !di->Exists ) di->Create(); // Create a subdirectory in the directory just created. DirectoryInfo^ dis = di->CreateSubdirectory( "SubDir" ); // Process that directory as required. // ... // Delete the subdirectory. The true indicates that if subdirectories // or files are in this directory, they are to be deleted as well. dis->Delete( true ); // Delete the directory. di->Delete( true ); }
Write flag required for write permission to the DirectoryInfo and subdirectories to be deleted.
Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2