Delete Folder and Its Content using C#

[Hatsune]

In this tutorial, i will going to teach you how to create a folder and its content using C#. I always got an error in creating this program prompted as "Directory is not empty" and it cannot be deleted. So, I came up this program and studied again the possible code to fix this.

Now, let's start this tutorial!

1. Let's start with creating a Windows Form Application in C# for this tutorial by following the following steps in Microsoft Visual Studio: Go to File, click New Project, and choose Windows Application and name your project as Delete Folder.

2. Next, add only one Button named Button1 and labeled it as "Delete Folder". Add also TextBox named TextBox1 for our inputting the path of the folder that you want to delete. You must design your interface like this:

3. To achieve that, first of all we need to include the following statement in the program code:

using System.IO - This namespace has to precede the whole program code as it is higher in hierarchy for DirectoryInfo. In Fact, this is the concept of object oriented programming where DirectoryInfo is part of the namespace System.IO.

1. using
   
   System
   
   ;
   
2. using
   
   System.Collections.Generic
   
   ;
   
3. using
   
   System.ComponentModel
   
   ;
   
4. using
   
   System.Data
   
   ;
   
5. using
   
   System.Drawing
   
   ;
   
6. using
   
   System.Text
   
   ;
   
7. using
   
   System.Windows.Forms
   
   ;
   
8. 
   
9. using
   
   System.IO
   
   ;
   

4. Now, to avoid an error saying Directory is not empty when we delete a folder, we will create a method named DeleteDirectory with string target_dir as String as parameter.

1. public
   
   static
   
   void
   
   DeleteDirectory(
   
   string
   
   target)
   
2. {
   
3. string
   
   [
   
   ]
   
   files =
   
   Directory.
   
   GetFiles
   
   (
   
   target)
   
   ;
   
4. string
   
   [
   
   ]
   
   dir =
   
   Directory.
   
   GetDirectories
   
   (
   
   target)
   
   ;
   
5. 
   
6. foreach
   
   (
   
   string
   
   file in
   
   files)
   
7. {
   
8. File.
   
   SetAttributes
   
   (
   
   file, FileAttributes.
   
   Normal
   
   )
   
   ;
   
9. File.
   
   Delete
   
   (
   
   file)
   
   ;
   
10. }
    
11. 
    
12. foreach
    
    (
    
    string
    
    dir in
    
    dir)
    
13. {
    
14. DeleteDirectory(
    
    dir)
    
    ;
    
15. }
    
16. 
    
17. Directory.
    
    Delete
    
    (
    
    target, true
    
    )
    
    ;
    
18. }
    

The syntax Directory.

Delete

(

target, true

)

;

will delete all the contents of the folder directory. If false, then the content will not be deleted.

5. Now to delete the folder, we will now code for Button1. We will just use the method above.

1. private
   
   void
   
   Button1_Click(
   
   object
   
   sender, EventArgs e)
   
2. {
   
3. DirectoryInfo di =
   
   new
   
   DirectoryInfo(
   
   TextBox1.
   
   Text
   
   )
   
   ;
   
4. if
   
   (
   
   di.
   
   Exists
   
   )
   
5. {
   
6. 
   
7. DeleteDirectory(
   
   TextBox1.
   
   Text
   
   )
   
   ;
   
8. MessageBox.
   
   Show
   
   (
   
   "The directory was deleted successfully"
   
   )
   
   ;
   
9. TextBox1.
   
   Clear
   
   (
   
   )
   
   ;
   
10. }
    
11. else
    
12. {
    
13. MessageBox.
    
    Show
    
    (
    
    " Path is not found!"
    
    , "Error"
    
    )
    
    ;
    
14. TextBox1.
    
    Clear
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
15. }
    
16. }
    

We have created an instance of DirectoryInfo that holds the path inputted in textbox1. If the directory is existed, then we have used the method DeleteDirectory and its textbox1 as the parameter. Otherwise, it will prompt the user that the path was not found.

Press F5 to run the program.

Output:

Full source code:

1. using
   
   System
   
   ;
   
2. using
   
   System.Collections.Generic
   
   ;
   
3. using
   
   System.ComponentModel
   
   ;
   
4. using
   
   System.Data
   
   ;
   
5. using
   
   System.Drawing
   
   ;
   
6. using
   
   System.Text
   
   ;
   
7. using
   
   System.Windows.Forms
   
   ;
   
8. 
   
9. using
   
   System.IO
   
   ;
   
10. 
    
11. namespace
    
    Delete_Folder
    
12. {
    
13. public
    
    partial
    
    class
    
    Form1 :
    
    Form
    
14. {
    
15. public
    
    Form1(
    
    )
    
16. {
    
17. InitializeComponent(
    
    )
    
    ;
    
18. }
    
19. public
    
    static
    
    void
    
    DeleteDirectory(
    
    string
    
    target)
    
20. {
    
21. string
    
    [
    
    ]
    
    files =
    
    Directory.
    
    GetFiles
    
    (
    
    target)
    
    ;
    
22. string
    
    [
    
    ]
    
    dir =
    
    Directory.
    
    GetDirectories
    
    (
    
    target)
    
    ;
    
23. 
    
24. foreach
    
    (
    
    string
    
    file in
    
    files)
    
25. {
    
26. File.
    
    SetAttributes
    
    (
    
    file, FileAttributes.
    
    Normal
    
    )
    
    ;
    
27. File.
    
    Delete
    
    (
    
    file)
    
    ;
    
28. }
    
29. 
    
30. foreach
    
    (
    
    string
    
    dir in
    
    dir)
    
31. {
    
32. DeleteDirectory(
    
    dir)
    
    ;
    
33. }
    
34. 
    
35. Directory.
    
    Delete
    
    (
    
    target, true
    
    )
    
    ;
    
36. }
    
37. 
    
38. private
    
    void
    
    Button1_Click(
    
    object
    
    sender, EventArgs e)
    
39. {
    
40. DirectoryInfo di =
    
    new
    
    DirectoryInfo(
    
    TextBox1.
    
    Text
    
    )
    
    ;
    
41. if
    
    (
    
    di.
    
    Exists
    
    )
    
42. {
    
43. 
    
44. DeleteDirectory(
    
    TextBox1.
    
    Text
    
    )
    
    ;
    
45. MessageBox.
    
    Show
    
    (
    
    "The directory was deleted successfully"
    
    )
    
    ;
    
46. TextBox1.
    
    Clear
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
47. }
    
48. else
    
49. {
    
50. MessageBox.
    
    Show
    
    (
    
    " Path is not found!"
    
    , "Error"
    
    )
    
    ;
    
51. TextBox1.
    
    Clear
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
52. }
    
53. }
    
54. }
    
55. }
    

Best Regards,

Engr. Lyndon Bermoy
IT Instructor/System Developer/Android Developer/Freelance Programmer

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