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ClearFolder

.Net Framework does not have a function that can delete all contents of a folder, eg. if you try DirectoryInfo.Delete(true); and the hierachy have any content, then it will fail with "Directory is not empty". This means we have to write a recursive delete function each time we want to clear a directory hierarchy.

References :

• How to delete all files and folders in a directory - very good discussion and I took the best to create the ClearFolder function below.

Usage

• Example
  • I use the ClearFolder function on menulab.com to delete orphaned Compact Edition database files that are left overs of the Discussions server control examples.
• Example Code

  • string sessionsPath = Server.MapPath("~/_menulab/Discussions/Sessions");
    if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(sessionsPath))
    {
    	ClearFolder(sessionsPath);
    }
    

The ClearFolder function :

public static void ClearFolder(string pFolderPath)
{
	DirectoryInfo dirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(pFolderPath);

	FileInfo[] fileInfos = dirInfo.GetFiles();
	foreach (FileInfo fileInfo in fileInfos)
	{
		if (!fileInfo.IsReadOnly)
		{
			fileInfo.Delete();
		}
	}

	DirectoryInfo[] subDirInfos = dirInfo.GetDirectories();
	foreach (DirectoryInfo subDirInfo in subDirInfos)
	{
		ClearFolder(subDirInfo.FullName);
		subDirInfo.Delete();
	}
}

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