Windows del command not working

cmd.exewindows

I'm trying to delete a large directory. I run the delete (del /f node_modules), and it appears to work, but then the directory is still there… (When I try to delete it from the file explorer, it usually gives me some flavor of "you need admin permissions" or "can't delete because file is in use" or it just takes forever.)

Here's my question: what causes the del command to appear to work, but not actually work? I'd expect some output indicating the directory wasn't deleted.

Picture of the command used, and the result Another example

Best Answer

If I didn't have appropriate permissions, the cmd doesn't throw an access denied or something?

That's not how del is designed to work. If files are deleted, then del will inform you. If no files are deleted then del is silent or will display an error message (for example "Access is denied.").

Normally DEL will display a list of the files deleted, if Command Extensions are disabled; it will instead display a list of any files it cannot find.

Source Del - Delete Files - Windows CMD - SS64.com

If no files are deleted and you do not have the appropriate permissions to remove them an error message will be displayed:

F:\test\foo>del C:\Windows\notepad.exe
C:\Windows\notepad.exe
Access is denied.

I'd expect some output indicating the directory wasn't deleted.

If you use del with a directory name then it will delete the files in the directory. The directory specified is not deleted.

If a folder name is given instead of a file, all files in the folder will be deleted, but the folder itself will not be removed.

Source Del - Delete Files - Windows CMD - SS64.com

To delete both directories and the files and subdirectories use rd (an alias for rmdir):

Remove (or Delete) a Directory.

Syntax
RD pathname
RD /S pathname
RD /S /Q pathname
/S : Delete all files and subfolders in addition to the folder itself. Use this to remove an entire folder tree.

Source - RD - Remove Directory - Windows CMD - SS64.com

Related Solutions

Windows – Move files across computers with command line (Windows)

Look into Robocopy, which is standard on Win7 and is available in a microsoft dev kit for xp.

use robocopy /? (or robocopy /? > drive:\path\robocopy_options.txt) for options.

Windows 7:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

Windows XP:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17657#Requirements

Windows – Delete set of files using find command

Your code needs a few touchups. The pipe operator needs to be escaped by the batch escape character ^ and when using quotations within the parentheses for a command, the usebackq option must be specified.

for /?

Batch Format:

for /f "usebackq" %%i in (`dir /s /b ^| find "lock"`) do echo %%i

Command Line Format:

for /f "usebackq" %i in (`dir /s /b ^| find "lock"`) do echo %i

Replace echo with del and any of its options when you want it to actually delete the files. Note the double percent signs are needed when used within a bat file, single when used directly on the command line.

Another method is to use the forfiles command. forfiles /?

forfiles /m *lock* /s /c "cmd /c echo @file"

Note, both of these methods will also delete any folders that contain the search term lock. Additional steps would be needed to be taken to prevent this.