How do I recursively delete a directory and its entire contents (files + sub dirs) in PHP?
PhpRecursionDelete DirectoryPhp Problem Overview
How do I delete a directory and its entire contents (files and subdirectories) in PHP?
Php Solutions
Solution 1 - Php
The user-contributed section in the manual page of rmdir contains a decent implementation:
function rrmdir($dir) {
if (is_dir($dir)) {
$objects = scandir($dir);
foreach ($objects as $object) {
if ($object != "." && $object != "..") {
if (is_dir($dir. DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR .$object) && !is_link($dir."/".$object))
rrmdir($dir. DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR .$object);
else
unlink($dir. DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR .$object);
}
}
rmdir($dir);
}
}
Solution 2 - Php
Building on The Pixel Developer's comment, a snippet using the SPL might look like:
$files = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(
new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($dir, RecursiveDirectoryIterator::SKIP_DOTS),
RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST
);
foreach ($files as $fileinfo) {
$todo = ($fileinfo->isDir() ? 'rmdir' : 'unlink');
$todo($fileinfo->getRealPath());
}
rmdir($dir);
Note: It does no sanity checking and makes use of the SKIP_DOTS flag introduced with the FilesystemIterator in PHP 5.3.0. Of course, the $todo could be an if/else. The important point is that CHILD_FIRST is used to iterate over the children (files) first before their parent (folders).
Solution 3 - Php
Deletes all files and folders in the path.
function recurseRmdir($dir) {
$files = array_diff(scandir($dir), array('.','..'));
foreach ($files as $file) {
(is_dir("$dir/$file") && !is_link("$dir/$file")) ? recurseRmdir("$dir/$file") : unlink("$dir/$file");
}
return rmdir($dir);
}
Solution 4 - Php
For *nix you can use a shell_exec for rm -R or DEL /S folder_name for Windows.
Solution 5 - Php
There is another thread with more examples here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1407338/a-recursive-remove-directory-function-for-php
If you are using Yii then you can leave it to the framework:
CFileHelper::removeDirectory($my_directory);
Solution 6 - Php
<?php
use RecursiveDirectoryIterator;
use RecursiveIteratorIterator;
use SplFileInfo;
# http://stackoverflow.com/a/3352564/283851
# https://gist.github.com/XzaR90/48c6b615be12fa765898
# Forked from https://gist.github.com/mindplay-dk/a4aad91f5a4f1283a5e2
/**
* Recursively delete a directory and all of it's contents - e.g.the equivalent of `rm -r` on the command-line.
* Consistent with `rmdir()` and `unlink()`, an E_WARNING level error will be generated on failure.
*
* @param string $source absolute path to directory or file to delete.
* @param bool $removeOnlyChildren set to true will only remove content inside directory.
*
* @return bool true on success; false on failure
*/
function rrmdir($source, $removeOnlyChildren = false)
{
if(empty($source) || file_exists($source) === false)
{
return false;
}
if(is_file($source) || is_link($source))
{
return unlink($source);
}
$files = new RecursiveIteratorIterator
(
new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($source, RecursiveDirectoryIterator::SKIP_DOTS),
RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST
);
//$fileinfo as SplFileInfo
foreach($files as $fileinfo)
{
if($fileinfo->isDir())
{
if(rrmdir($fileinfo->getRealPath()) === false)
{
return false;
}
}
else
{
if(unlink($fileinfo->getRealPath()) === false)
{
return false;
}
}
}
if($removeOnlyChildren === false)
{
return rmdir($source);
}
return true;
}
Solution 7 - Php
The 100% working solution
public static function rmdir_recursive($directory, $delete_parent = null)
{
$files = glob($directory . '/{,.}[!.,!..]*',GLOB_MARK|GLOB_BRACE);
foreach ($files as $file) {
if (is_dir($file)) {
self::rmdir_recursive($file, 1);
} else {
unlink($file);
}
}
if ($delete_parent) {
rmdir($directory);
}
}
Solution 8 - Php
It seems that all other answers assume the path given to the function is always a directory. This variant works to remove directories as well as single files:
/**
* Recursively delete a file or directory. Use with care!
*
* @param string $path
*/
function recursiveRemove(string $path) {
if (is_dir($path)) {
foreach (scandir($path) as $entry) {
if (!in_array($entry, ['.', '..'], true)) {
recursiveRemove($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $entry);
}
}
rmdir($path);
} else {
unlink($path);
}
}
EDIT: If you're picky (and you should be picky) you may want to add code to check for scandir(), rmdir() and unlink() returning an error and throw an exception if so.
Solution 9 - Php
Using DirectoryIterator and recursion correctly:
function deleteFilesThenSelf($folder) {
foreach(new DirectoryIterator($folder) as $f) {
if($f->isDot()) continue; // skip . and ..
if ($f->isFile()) {
unlink($f->getPathname());
} else if($f->isDir()) {
deleteFilesThenSelf($f->getPathname());
}
}
rmdir($folder);
}
Solution 10 - Php
'simple' code that works and can be read by a ten year old:
function deleteNonEmptyDir($dir)
{
if (is_dir($dir))
{
$objects = scandir($dir);
foreach ($objects as $object)
{
if ($object != "." && $object != "..")
{
if (filetype($dir . "/" . $object) == "dir")
{
deleteNonEmptyDir($dir . "/" . $object);
}
else
{
unlink($dir . "/" . $object);
}
}
}
reset($objects);
rmdir($dir);
}
}
Please note that all I did was expand/simplify and fix (didn't work for non empty dir) the solution here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9760526/php-remove-not-empty-folder
Solution 11 - Php
Example with glob() function. It will delete all files and folders recursively, including files that starts with dot.
delete_all( 'folder' );
function delete_all( $item ) {
if ( is_dir( $item ) ) {
array_map( 'delete_all', array_diff( glob( "$item/{,.}*", GLOB_BRACE ), array( "$item/.", "$item/.." ) ) );
rmdir( $item );
} else {
unlink( $item );
}
};
Solution 12 - Php
Enhanced @Artefacto 's solution - corrected typos and simplified code, working for both - empty && non-empty directories .
function recursive_rmdir($dir) {
if( is_dir($dir) ) {
$objects = array_diff( scandir($dir), array('..', '.') );
foreach ($objects as $object) {
$objectPath = $dir."/".$object;
if( is_dir($objectPath) )
recursive_rmdir($objectPath);
else
unlink($objectPath);
}
rmdir($dir);
}
}
Solution 13 - Php
Something like this?
function delete_folder($folder) {
$glob = glob($folder);
foreach ($glob as $g) {
if (!is_dir($g)) {
unlink($g);
} else {
delete_folder("$g/*");
rmdir($g);
}
}
}
Solution 14 - Php
unlinkr function recursively deletes all the folders and files in given path by making sure it doesn't delete the script itself.
function unlinkr($dir, $pattern = "*") {
// find all files and folders matching pattern
$files = glob($dir . "/$pattern");
//interate thorugh the files and folders
foreach($files as $file){
//if it is a directory then re-call unlinkr function to delete files inside this directory
if (is_dir($file) and !in_array($file, array('..', '.'))) {
echo "<p>opening directory $file </p>";
unlinkr($file, $pattern);
//remove the directory itself
echo "<p> deleting directory $file </p>";
rmdir($file);
} else if(is_file($file) and ($file != __FILE__)) {
// make sure you don't delete the current script
echo "<p>deleting file $file </p>";
unlink($file);
}
}
}
if you want to delete all files and folders where you place this script then call it as following
//get current working directory
$dir = getcwd();
unlinkr($dir);
if you want to just delete just php files then call it as following
unlinkr($dir, "*.php");
you can use any other path to delete the files as well
unlinkr("/home/user/temp");
This will delete all files in home/user/temp directory.
Solution 15 - Php
I use this code ...
function rmDirectory($dir) {
foreach(glob($dir . '/*') as $file) {
if(is_dir($file))
rrmdir($file);
else
unlink($file);
}
rmdir($dir);
}
or this one...
<?php
public static function delTree($dir) {
$files = array_diff(scandir($dir), array('.','..'));
foreach ($files as $file) {
(is_dir("$dir/$file")) ? delTree("$dir/$file") : unlink("$dir/$file");
}
return rmdir($dir);
}
?>
Solution 16 - Php
Once you finish running tests , just remove # from the #unlink and #rmdir in the class .
<?php
class RMRFiles {
function __construct(){
}
public function recScan( $mainDir, $allData = array() )
{
// hide files
$hidefiles = array(
".",
"..") ;
//start reading directory
$dirContent = scandir( $mainDir ) ;
//cycle through
foreach ( $dirContent as $key => $content )
{
$path = $mainDir . '/' . $content ;
// if is readable / file
if ( ! in_array( $content, $hidefiles ) )
{
if ( is_file( $path ) && is_readable( $path ) )
{
#delete files within directory
#unlink($path);
$allData['unlink'][] = $path ;
}
// if is readable / directory
else
if ( is_dir( $path ) && is_readable( $path ) )
{
/*recursive*/
$allData = $this->recScan( $path, $allData ) ;
#finally remove directory
$allData['rmdir'][]=$path;
#rmdir($path);
}
}
}
return $allData ;
}
}
header("Content-Type: text/plain");
/* Get absolute path of the running script
Ex : /home/user/public_html/ */
define('ABPATH', dirname(__file__) . '/');
/* The folder where we store cache files
Ex: /home/user/public_html/var/cache */
define('STOREDIR','var/cache');
$rmrf = new RMRFiles();
#here we delete folder content files & directories
print_r($rmrf->recScan(ABPATH.STOREDIR));
#finally delete scanned directory ?
#rmdir(ABPATH.STOREDIR);
?>
Solution 17 - Php
<?php
/**
* code by Nk (nk.have.a@gmail.com)
*/
class filesystem
{
public static function remove($path)
{
return is_dir($path) ? rmdir($path) : unlink($path);
}
public static function normalizePath($path)
{
return $path.(is_dir($path) && !preg_match('@/$@', $path) ? '/' : '');
}
public static function rscandir($dir, $sort = SCANDIR_SORT_ASCENDING)
{
$results = array();
if(!is_dir($dir))
return $results;
$dir = self::normalizePath($dir);
$objects = scandir($dir, $sort);
foreach($objects as $object)
if($object != '.' && $object != '..')
{
if(is_dir($dir.$object))
$results = array_merge($results, self::rscandir($dir.$object, $sort));
else
array_push($results, $dir.$object);
}
array_push($results, $dir);
return $results;
}
public static function rrmdir($dir)
{
$files = self::rscandir($dir);
foreach($files as $file)
self::remove($file);
return !file_exists($dir);
}
}
?>
cleanup.php :
<?php
/* include.. */
filesystem::rrmdir('/var/log');
filesystem::rrmdir('./cache');
?>
Solution 18 - Php
I juste made this code, from some StackOverflow discussions. I didn't test on Linux environment yet. It is made in order to delete a file or a directory, completely :
function splRm(SplFileInfo $i)
{
$path = $i->getRealPath();
if ($i->isDir()) {
echo 'D - ' . $path . '<br />';
rmdir($path);
} elseif($i->isFile()) {
echo 'F - ' . $path . '<br />';
unlink($path);
}
}
function splRrm(SplFileInfo $j)
{
$path = $j->getRealPath();
if ($j->isDir()) {
$rdi = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($path, FilesystemIterator::SKIP_DOTS);
$rii = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($rdi, RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST);
foreach ($rii as $i) {
splRm($i);
}
}
splRm($j);
}
splRrm(new SplFileInfo(__DIR__.'/../dirOrFileName'));
Solution 19 - Php
function rmdir_recursive( $dirname ) {
/**
* FilesystemIterator and SKIP_DOTS
*/
if ( class_exists( 'FilesystemIterator' ) && defined( 'FilesystemIterator::SKIP_DOTS' ) ) {
if ( !is_dir( $dirname ) ) {
return false;
}
foreach( new RecursiveIteratorIterator( new RecursiveDirectoryIterator( $dirname, FilesystemIterator::SKIP_DOTS ), RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST ) as $path ) {
$path->isDir() ? rmdir( $path->getPathname() ) : unlink( $path->getRealPath() );
}
return rmdir( $dirname );
}
/**
* RecursiveDirectoryIterator and SKIP_DOTS
*/
if ( class_exists( 'RecursiveDirectoryIterator' ) && defined( 'RecursiveDirectoryIterator::SKIP_DOTS' ) ) {
if ( !is_dir( $dirname ) ) {
return false;
}
foreach( new RecursiveIteratorIterator( new RecursiveDirectoryIterator( $dirname, RecursiveDirectoryIterator::SKIP_DOTS ), RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST ) as $path ) {
$path->isDir() ? rmdir( $path->getPathname() ) : unlink( $path->getRealPath() );
}
return rmdir( $dirname );
}
/**
* RecursiveIteratorIterator and RecursiveDirectoryIterator
*/
if ( class_exists( 'RecursiveIteratorIterator' ) && class_exists( 'RecursiveDirectoryIterator' ) ) {
if ( !is_dir( $dirname ) ) {
return false;
}
foreach( new RecursiveIteratorIterator( new RecursiveDirectoryIterator( $dirname ), RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST ) as $path ) {
if ( in_array( $path->getFilename(), array( '.', '..' ) ) ) {
continue;
}
$path->isDir() ? rmdir( $path->getPathname() ) : unlink( $path->getRealPath() );
}
return rmdir( $dirname );
}
/**
* Scandir Recursive
*/
if ( !is_dir( $dirname ) ) {
return false;
}
$objects = scandir( $dirname );
foreach ( $objects as $object ) {
if ( $object === '.' || $object === '..' ) {
continue;
}
filetype( $dirname . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $object ) === 'dir' ? rmdir_recursive( $dirname . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $object ) : unlink( $dirname . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $object );
}
reset( $objects );
rmdir( $dirname );
return !is_dir( $dirname );
}
Solution 20 - Php
Modified variant of @XzaR solution. It does remove empty folders, when all files are deleted from them and it throws exceptions instead of returning false on errors.
function recursivelyRemoveDirectory($source, $removeOnlyChildren = true)
{
if (empty($source) || file_exists($source) === false) {
throw new Exception("File does not exist: '$source'");
}
if (is_file($source) || is_link($source)) {
if (false === unlink($source)) {
throw new Exception("Cannot delete file '$source'");
}
}
$files = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(
new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($source, RecursiveDirectoryIterator::SKIP_DOTS),
RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST
);
foreach ($files as $fileInfo) {
/** @var SplFileInfo $fileInfo */
if ($fileInfo->isDir()) {
if ($this->recursivelyRemoveDirectory($fileInfo->getRealPath()) === false) {
throw new Exception("Failed to remove directory '{$fileInfo->getRealPath()}'");
}
if (false === rmdir($fileInfo->getRealPath())) {
throw new Exception("Failed to remove empty directory '{$fileInfo->getRealPath()}'");
}
} else {
if (unlink($fileInfo->getRealPath()) === false) {
throw new Exception("Failed to remove file '{$fileInfo->getRealPath()}'");
}
}
}
if ($removeOnlyChildren === false) {
if (false === rmdir($source)) {
throw new Exception("Cannot remove directory '$source'");
}
}
}
Solution 21 - Php
function deltree_cat($folder)
{
if (is_dir($folder))
{
$handle = opendir($folder);
while ($subfile = readdir($handle))
{
if ($subfile == '.' or $subfile == '..') continue;
if (is_file($subfile)) unlink("{$folder}/{$subfile}");
else deltree_cat("{$folder}/{$subfile}");
}
closedir($handle);
rmdir ($folder);
}
else
{
unlink($folder);
}
}