How to delete a directory in java

Let’s learn how to delete a directory in java.

To delete a directory use delete() method of File class. delete() method deletes file or directory denoted by this abstract pathname.

If this pathname denotes a directory, then the directory must be empty in order to be deleted.

delete() method returns true if and only if the file or directory is successfully deleted; false otherwise.

In the below image you can see directory path B:\HelloWorld which displays directories and files inside HelloWorld folder.

Now let’s see how to delete a directory using recursion or recursively.

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
public class DeleteDirectoryExample
{
   public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException 
   {
      String strPath = "B:\\HelloWorld";
      File fl = new File(strPath);
      deleteDirectoryRecursively(fl);
      // deleting main folder
      fl.delete();
   }
   public static void deleteDirectoryRecursively(File fl)
   {
      for(File subfile : fl.listFiles())
      {
         // recursively calling function to empty sub folder
         if(subfile.isDirectory())
         {
            deleteDirectoryRecursively(subfile);
         }
         // deleting files and emptying sub folders
         subfile.delete();
      }
   }
}

Output:

As you can see in the below image there is no HelloWorld folder.

How to delete a directory in java

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