Delete files in subfolder using batch script - batch-file

Question

I have to delete files from a sub folder with a same name. My file path is like as follows.
d:\test\test1\archive\*.txt
d:\test\try\archive\*.txt
d:\test\model\archive\*.txt
I tried deleting using del command in batch script.
But there are more than 100 folders with in the folder "test". So it is very difficult to use del for each and every path.
Except for the parent folder name of "archive" folder, everything remains the same for all the paths. So I guess there might be some easy way to delete the files using batch script.
Can anyone guide me whether there is any easy way to delete the files using batch script? Or i have to repeat del for all 100 folders?

Answer 1

You can use the /s switch for del to delete in subfolders as well.
Example
del D:\test\*.* /s
Would delete all files under test including all files in all subfolders.
To remove folders use rd, same switch applies.
rd D:\test\folder /s /q
rd doesn't support wildcards * though so if you want to recursively delete all subfolders under the test directory you can use a for loop.
for /r /d D:\test %a in (*) do rd %a /s /q
If you are using the for option in a batch file remember to use 2 %'s instead of 1.

Answer 2

Use powershell inside your bat file
PowerShell Remove-Item c:\scripts\* -include *.txt -exclude *test* -force -recurse
You can also exclude from removing some specific folder or file:
PowerShell Remove-Item C:/* -Exclude WINDOWS,autoexec.bat -force -recurse

Answer 3

Moved from the closed topic
del /s d:\test\archive*.txt
This should get you all of your text files
Alternatively,
I modified a script I already wrote to look for certain files to move them, this one should go and find files and delete them. It allows you to just choose to which folder by a selection screen.
Please test this on your system before using it though.
#echo off
Title DeleteFilesInSubfolderList
color 0A
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
REM ---------------------------
REM *** EDIT VARIABLES BELOW ***
REM ---------------------------
set targetFolder=
REM targetFolder is the location you want to delete from
REM ---------------------------
REM *** DO NOT EDIT BELOW ***
REM ---------------------------
IF NOT DEFINED targetFolder echo.Please type in the full BASE Symform Offline Folder (I.E. U:\targetFolder)
IF NOT DEFINED targetFolder set /p targetFolder=:
cls
echo.Listing folders for: %targetFolder%\^*
echo.-------------------------------
set Index=1
for /d %%D in (%targetFolder%\*) do (
set "Subfolders[!Index!]=%%D"
set /a Index+=1
)
set /a UBound=Index-1
for /l %%i in (1,1,%UBound%) do echo. %%i. !Subfolders[%%i]!
:choiceloop
echo.-------------------------------
set /p Choice=Search for ERRORS in:
if "%Choice%"=="" goto chioceloop
if %Choice% LSS 1 goto choiceloop
if %Choice% GTR %UBound% goto choiceloop
set Subfolder=!Subfolders[%Choice%]!
goto start
:start
TITLE Delete Text Files - %Subfolder%
IF NOT EXIST %ERRPATH% goto notExist
IF EXIST %ERRPATH% echo.%ERRPATH% Exists - Beginning to test-delete files...
echo.Searching for .txt files...
pushd %ERRPATH%
for /r %%a in (*.txt) do (
echo "%%a" "%Subfolder%\%%~nxa"
)
popd
echo.
echo.
verIFy >nul
echo.Execute^?
choice /C:YNX /N /M "(Y)Yes or (N)No:"
IF '%ERRORLEVEL%'=='1' set question1=Y
IF '%ERRORLEVEL%'=='2' set question1=N
IF /I '%question1%'=='Y' goto execute
IF /I '%question1%'=='N' goto end
:execute
echo.%ERRPATH% Exists - Beginning to delete files...
echo.Searching for .txt files...
pushd %ERRPATH%
for /r %%a in (*.txt) do (
del "%%a" "%Subfolder%\%%~nxa"
)
popd
goto end
:end
echo.
echo.
echo.Finished deleting files from %subfolder%
pause
goto choiceloop
ENDLOCAL
exit
REM Created by Trevor Giannetti
REM An unpublished work
REM (October 2012)
If you change the
set targetFolder=
to the folder you want you won't get prompted for the folder.
*Remember when putting the base path in, the format does not include a '\' on the end.
e.g.
d:\test
c:\temp
Hope this helps

Answer 4

I had to complete the same task and I used a "for" loop and a "del" command as follows:
#ECHO OFF
set dir=%cd%
FOR /d /r %dir% %%x in (archive\) do (
if exist "%%x" del %%x\*.txt /f /q
)
You can set the dir variable with any start directory you want or used the current directory (%cd%) variable.
These are the options for "for" command:
/d For directories
/r For recursive
These are the options for "del" command:
/f Force deletes read-only files
/q Quiet mode; suppresses prompts for delete confirmations.

Answer 5

del parentpath (or just place the .bat file inside parent folder) *.txt /s
That will delete all .txt files in the parent and all sub folders. If you want to delete multiple file extensions just add a space and do the same thing. Ex. *.txt *.dll *.xml