NAME¶

std::experimental::filesystem::remove,std::experimental::filesystem::remove_all - std::experimental::filesystem::remove,std::experimental::filesystem::remove_all

Synopsis¶

Defined in header <experimental/filesystem>
bool remove(const path& p); (1) (filesystem TS)
bool remove(const path& p, error_code& ec);
std::uintmax_t remove_all(const path& p); (2) (filesystem TS)
std::uintmax_t remove_all(const path& p, error_code& ec);

1) The file or empty directory identified by the path p is deleted as if by the
POSIX remove. Symlinks are not followed (symlink is removed, not its target)
2) Deletes the contents of p (if it is a directory) and the contents of all its
subdirectories, recursively, then deletes p itself as if by repeatedly applying the
POSIX remove. Symlinks are not followed (symlink is removed, not its target)

Parameters¶

p - path to delete
ec - out-parameter for error reporting in the non-throwing overload

Return value¶

1) true if the file was deleted, false if it did not exist. The overload that takes
error_code& argument returns false on errors.
2) Returns the number of files and directories that were deleted (which may be zero
if p did not exist to begin with). The overload that takes error_code& argument
returns static_cast<std::uintmax_t>(-1) on error.

Exceptions¶

The overload that does not take a error_code& parameter throws filesystem_error on
underlying OS API errors, constructed with p as the first argument and the OS error
code as the error code argument. std::bad_alloc may be thrown if memory allocation
fails. The overload taking a error_code& parameter sets it to the OS API error code
if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur. This overload
has
noexcept specification:
noexcept

Notes¶

On POSIX systems, this function typically calls unlink and rmdir as needed, on
Windows RemoveDirectoryW and DeleteFileW.

Example¶

// Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdint>
#include <experimental/filesystem>
namespace fs = std::experimental::filesystem;
int main()
{
fs::path dir = fs::temp_directory_path();
fs::create_directories(dir / "abcdef/example");
std::uintmax_t n = fs::remove_all(dir / "abcdef");
std::cout << "Deleted " << n << " files or directories\n";
}

Possible output:¶

Deleted 2 files or directories

See also¶

remove erases a file
(function)