Rmdir : Delete directory from command line

Do you want to delete a directory from Windows command prompt(CMD)? This post explains how to use the command rmdir to delete folders and their contents. You can also find examples for each use case of folder deletion – empty folders, non empty folders, folders with white spaced names etc.

Delete folder from CMD

Run the command rmdir on the folder.

How to delete a non empty folder

The simple rmdir does not work for folders having some content.

Use /s option to delete the folder contents along with the folder. This deletes all subfolders recursively.

Force delete a folder without confirmation

To force delete directory, without being asked for confirmation, we can use /Q switch.

We can also use ‘rd’ in place of ‘rmdir‘. Both names refer to the same command. This command works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7 and 10.

Deleting directory with white spaces in the name

Rmdir can delete files with whitespaces in the name, you just need to wrap up the folder name in double quotes as shown in the below example.

Delete contents of a directory but keep the directory

The usecase here is to delete all the contents of the directory but keep the parent directory so that we do not need to create it again. rmdir /Q /S does not work here as it deletes the parent directory too. Rather the below commands should do the trick.

This works in 2 steps – the first command deletes all files, whereas the second one deletes all subdirectories.

Errors

To delete a directory, you should have appropriate access permissions on the directory. Otherwise rmdir throws ‘Access denied’ error.

Thanks dude..I was looking for command line way of deleting nonempty folders.. cheers.

Good old DOS….something tells me one day the world will be saved by a DOS operation. ; )

cannot delete… access is denied. am trying to delete a directory on a flash drive. cannot access permissions because explorer isn’t working. using win7

Note:
Don’t forget to leave a “space” in the command line..
rmdir /Q /S_“folder with spaces in the name” I meant “space”, ait’t “underscore”. And upper case of “S”. Good luck!

Hi
can you show me an example of command to delete this path in bat file.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Communicator

am not able to do this . some error s

Is this in Windows 7/Vista?.
If so then you need to take ownership of the files. You can do that with below command from elevated administrator command prompt.
takeown /F «c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Communicator» /R /A

then run the below command to delete this folder.

rmdir /S «c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Communicator»

cd program files\microsoft office communicator
then enter press
rd /s “filename”
Then enter

I am getting the following error “The process cannot access the file because it is being us
ed by another process.” what should be the case now?

You should not have the Dir you want to delete open… Close it and then try the command again

Could you kindly post the command for deleting my folder which is at Drive G. Name of the folder is Recycler. Thanks

Thank you so much. I was trying to delete an entire directory of files, about 200k folders and files, and it kept throwing a warning “this folder is shared with other people”. No such warning with this command!

i followed your instructions but i’m getting error to delete a folder in cmd. ERROR = The system cannot find the the specified…

You should make “C:” your default Directory, tot do this type “cd.. && cd..” The type the command again but leave the “C:\” and just type the rest of the code.
It should look like this: C:>rmdir /Q /S Users\Owner\Songs\New

i have installed new win 8 n a back up of old win 8 is in c drive with a name windows old n its not being deleted by ANY means . i have tried this one as well but it says on all files access is denied

I tried the process many times but it says “access is denied”….
My entire path is “C:\program files\alwil software\avast5” . How should i delete this avast5 folder with all the folders inside it.

run cmd.exe as administrator
make sure avast service is not running

Every time I try it says the file cant be found

you’re really awesome. Googled a 1000 times just for this line

“C:\>rmdir /S nonemptydir
nonemptydir, Are you sure (Y/N)? y”

Thank you so much for your help. This changed my life.

Thank you so much for your help. This changed my life.
please attache more basic command for beginner person for my email
tnx

I need to do that, help me out

D:\abc\ has files and folders in it

but by using rd or rmdir

rmdir d:\abc\ /s /q will delete abc folder also but i don’t want this.

the asterisk stands for ‘anything’ in or below the named directory.

I want to delete subfolders of a folder older than 10 days.I am able to delete files but not folder

I wanted to know the bat file programm for deleting the contents (sub folders) of a folder on certain conditions. can anyone help.?

How to delete folders created programatically with timestamp attached at the end.

Like we do for files :
DEL comp*

Is there any command for folders:
RM com*
or
RMDIR com*

I’m wanting to delete the directory c:\windows.old I followed the instructions above I run CMD as admin, I typed in: takeown /F c:\windows.old /R /A And hit enter key. It did this part properly but Then I typed in: rmdir /Q /S c:\windows.old And after every entry it said Access denied. what is the command line/s i need to type to atlas delete the directory c:\windows.old ? (using windows 10)

I got the same problem…….
please someone help.

thank you .
i m so glad

I followed the instructions above I run CMD as admin, I typed in: takeown /F c:\windows.old /R /A And hit enter key. It did this part properly but Then I typed in: rmdir /Q /S c:\windows.old And after every entry it said Access denied. what is the command line/s i need to type to atlas delete the directory c:\windows.old ? (using windows 10.
Please somebody help………………………

takeown /f D:\OrganizationalUnit\Everyone /r /d y
icacls D:\OrganizationalUnit\Everyone /grant administrators:F /T
attrib -s -h -r D:\OrganizationalUnit\EVERYONE /s /d
forfiles /P D:\OrganizationalUnit\Everyone\ -S -M *.* /D -2 /C “cmd /c del /f /q @PATH”
forfiles /P D:\OrganizationalUnit\Everyone\ /M * /D -2 /C “cmd /c if @isdir==TRUE rmdir /S /Q @file”

Thank you very much! With these commands I could remove all “c:\Windows.old” files and directories.

Hello,
I have four folders and I want to keep two of them along with their contents and delete other two folders. How can I do that?
My Parent folder -> Folder 1 (file1.txt), Folder 2 (file2.txt), Folder 3 (file3.txt), Folder 4 (file4.txt).
Need to delete or remove 2 folders and keep 2 folder with their content.
Need command for this.
Any help will be appreciated.

Super Cool!! Deleted a stubborn non empty directory in no time. Thanks for this guide.

I have several folder: folder1, folder2, folder3
how to delete all “folder” with *

Note: This commands doest’n work:
RM folder*
or
RMDIR folder*

I want to thank you very much for the help on deleting these files. I ended up using the CMD method, but it worked perfectly. Again, thank you.

Thanks. After struggling for months and hunting the web, I was finally able to delete a folder using your advice “Deleting directory with white spaces in the name”

OMG! Thank you! Was trying to delete the remaining empty folders of an old eset nod, but couldn’t. This did the trick (hoping). I’m just wondering if its still in the background somewhere. T.hanks again

in programatically if any changes in the inner files or directory after delete the parent directory doesnot work
eg:
system(“rmdir /s/q \””d:/test/hari\””);——>it works
but after
system(“rmdir /s/q \””d:/test\””);—–>it doesn’t work

Thank you for these still useful tips.

That worked verywell. Thank You

I tried the command, but someone has created the directory repeatedly and now I can not removed the base directory. Help

E:\>rmdir /s /q thur2
thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Th
ur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur
2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\
Thur2\AC_FSQ

1.ZIP – The file name is too long.
thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Th
ur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur
2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\
Thur2\AC_HR1

1.ZIP – The file name is too long.
thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Th
ur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur
2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\
Thur2\AC_HR1

2.ZIP – The file name is too long.
The path thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2
\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\T
hur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\Thu
r2\Thur2\Thur2\Thur2\AC_FSQ

How to delete a file, directory, or folder

The steps to delete a computer file, directory, or folder vary on the method you’d like to use, and your operating system. To proceed, choose from the list of options below and follow the instructions.

How to delete files in Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows users can delete a file or folder (directory) using many different methods. Below are the more common methods for deleting a file or folder in Microsoft Windows.

Users not familiar with Windows should realize that if you delete a folder, it deletes all the files and folders within that folder.

The steps below are for deleting a single file or folder. However, the same steps can be done to delete multiple files or folders. For help with selecting multiple files, see: How to select or highlight multiple files and folders.

Delete key

Locate the item you want to delete, highlight it by clicking the file or folder once, and press the Delete key. You can browse to the location of the file or folder using either My Computer or Windows Explorer.

You can delete multiple files or folders by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking each before pressing Delete .

You can hold down the Shift key while pressing the Delete key to prevent the files being deleted from going to the Recycle Bin.

Delete file or folder by right-clicking

Open My Computer or Windows Explorer. Locate the file or folder you want to delete and right-click it. Choose the delete option from the pop-up menu.

Delete from file menu

Open My Computer or Windows Explorer, locate and select the file or folder you want to delete, click File in the top menu bar and select Delete.

If the File menu is not visible in My Computer or Windows Explorer, press the Alt key to make the menu bar visible, including the file menu.

Problems during delete

Some files and folders may be protected from deletion through encryption or password protection. In this case, you may be asked for a password to decrypt or remove the password protection.

A file may be set as a read-only file, meaning it can only be opened for viewing, but it cannot be modified or deleted. When trying to delete a read-only file, you’ll get a message stating the file is write-protected and cannot be deleted. You’ll need modify or write permissions to be granted to your user account to delete the file.

Some files may only be deleted with administrator permissions. To delete these files, you would need to have administrator rights on the computer. If you are using a work computer, the technical support staff often are the only users with administrator rights on the computer.

Another possible cause of problems with deleting a file or folder is a virus or malware infection. Viruses and malware can prevent files or folders from being modified or deleted. If this is the case, you need to remove the virus or malware infection to be able to delete the affected file or folder.

Windows command line

See the below MS-DOS and Windows command line section for information about deleting a file or folder at the Windows command line.

Uninstalling a program

See our uninstalling a program steps for help with uninstalling (deleting) software programs from the computer.

How to restore a deleted file or folder

If you’ve deleted a file by mistake, you can see our steps on how to restore a deleted file page for further information on recovering a deleted file.

How to delete files in MS-DOS and the Windows command line

Keep in mind that any deleted file or directory in MS-DOS is not be sent to the Windows Recycle Bin.

Before any of the steps below can be followed, you must get to an MS-DOS prompt or the Windows command line. If you are new to the command line, you may also want to read through the following pages first.

• How to get to an MS-DOS prompt or Windows command line.
• How to use the Windows command line (DOS).

Files

MS-DOS users can delete files using the del command. See this page to get additional information and help with this command. Below is an example of how this command could be used.

As seen in the above example, when deleting a file, you need to enter the full file name including the file extension.

The del command can delete any file.

Delete multiple files

You can also use wildcards if you want to delete multiple files as shown in the example below.

In the above example, this command would delete all files that end with a .txt file extension.

The del command can delete any file extension.

Directory

MS-DOS users can delete directories in MS-DOS using the deltree command or rmdir command. See either of these links for additional information about these commands. Below is an example of how this could be used.

If the directory is full or has other subdirectories, you’ll get an error message. To delete a full directory, you need to use a switch with the above example. For example, «rmdir example /s» to remove a full «example» directory. See our deltree command or rmdir command for additional examples and switches.

Deleting a subdirectory

If you want to delete a directory within another directory (subdirectory), you can use a command similar to the example below.

In the above example, the «test» directory in the «example» directory would be deleted. You could also use the cd command to change the directory to the example directory and then delete the «test» directory using our first example shown above.

How to delete a directory or file name with a space

To delete a directory or file name with a space in the name, you must surround the directory or file name with quotes as shown below.

In the above examples, we are deleting the file named «my example file.txt» with quotes surrounding the complete file name and extension and removing the «my example directory» directory.

The rmdir command can delete any file.

How to delete files in Linux, Unix, and other variants

Files

Linux and Unix users can delete files through the console using the rm command. See this page for additional information about this command. Below is an example of how this command could be used.

As seen in the example above, when deleting a file, you need to enter the full file name including the file extension.

The rm command can delete any file.

Delete multiple files

You can also use wildcards if you want to delete multiple files, as shown in the example below.

In the example above, this command would delete all files with a .txt file extension.

The rm command can delete any file of file extensions.

Directory

Linux and Unix users can delete folders through the console with the rmdir command. See this page for additional information about this command. Below is an example of how this command could be used.

Like Microsoft Windows, with Linux and Unix, you can also delete files through the GUI by locating the file and pressing the delete key on the keyboard.

Deleting a subdirectory

If you want to delete a directory within another directory (subdirectory), you can use a command similar to the example below.

In the example above, the «test» directory in the «example» directory would be deleted. You could also use the cd command to change the directory to the example directory and then delete the «test» directory using our first example shown above.

How to delete a directory or file name with a space

To delete a directory or file name with a space in the name, you must surround the directory or file name with quotes as shown below.

In the examples above, we are deleting the file named «my example file.txt» with quotes surrounding the complete file name and extension and removing the «my example directory» directory.

The rmdir command can delete any file.

How to delete files on macOS

Apple macOS users can delete a file or folder (directory) using many different methods. Below are the more common methods for deleting a file or folder.

Users not familiar with Apple macOS should realize that if you delete a folder, it deletes all the files and folders in that folder.

The steps below are for deleting a single file or folder. However, the same steps can be applied to deleting multiple files or folders if you select several files or folders first. See: How to select or highlight multiple files and folders.

Delete key

The delete on the keyboard by itself does not delete a file or folder on macOS. To delete a file or folder, press and hold Command , then press the delete key. You can browse to the location of the file or folder using Finder.

Right-click and choosing Move to Trash

Open Finder, locate the file or folder you want to delete, and right-click the file or folder. In the right-click menu that appears, click the Move to Trash option.

Delete from the file menu

Open Finder, locate and select the file or folder you want to delete, click File in the top menu bar, and select Move to Trash.

Terminal

To delete files or directories in the Terminal command line, use the rm command.

How to delete files on Microsoft Windows 3.X

File Manager

1. Open File Manager
2. Locate the folder or file you want to delete, then click File and Delete.

MS-DOS

See the MS-DOS user section above for information about deleting a directory in MS-DOS.