Deleting empty folders

LillyVanilli

Hi,

Does anyone know of any command that can be run on a Windows file system to delete any empty folders?

Thanks

auggie2k

Not really necessary to be honest because the user no space basically. Some programs require these "empty" folders for temporary files etc. Anyway, here's the deal...

You don't need a program; you can do this at the command prompt. Open a command prompt window and navigate to the root folder of the drive in question. Enter this command:

DIR /AD/B/S | SORT /R > EMPTIES.BAT

The file EMPTIES.BAT now contains a list of all folders on your hard drive in reverse order. Use Word or another editor to put the filenames in quotes and add the prefix RD (with a space after RD) to every line in the file. In Word, you can do this easily by using Find and Replace to search for ^p (which represents the paragraph mark) and replace it with "^pRD " (quote, p, R, D, space quote), then hand-correct the first and last lines of the file if necessary. Save the modified EMPTIES .BAT file and exit your editor. Then simply launch the batch file. It will attempt the RD (remove directory) command on each folder, but the command will fail for any folder that is not empty.

LillyVanilli

Thanks but that seems nearly as much work as deleting them manually. The folders I want to delete are not Windows files but files created by an application.
Basically it has created every folder from A-Z, including Ab, Ac, Ad, ...Zz.. Aba, Abb... So thousands of folders.
If anyone else knows of a quicker way that would be great.
Thanks

seamus

lynners wrote: »

Thanks but that seems nearly as much work as deleting them manually. The folders I want to delete are not Windows files but files created by an application.

Pretty much the same thing. Folders are folders.

Basically it has created every folder from A-Z, including Ab, Ac, Ad, ...Zz.. Aba, Abb... So thousands of folders.
If anyone else knows of a quicker way that would be great.
Thanks

What auggie posted is pretty much the most comprehensive way you're going to get. You could use a decent text editor like notepad++ to stick an "RD" at the start of every line in a matter of seconds. Even doing it manually (copy and paste) should take no more than a few minutes, which is far quicker than going into each folder manually.

If you know that all the folders are empty, then CTRL + A, DEL

auggie2k

Not at all, this would do it really quick...

auggie2k wrote:

In Word, you can do this easily by using Find and Replace to search for ^p (which represents the paragraph mark) and replace it with "^pRD " (quote, p, R, D, space quote), then hand-correct the first and last lines of the file if necessary.

LillyVanilli

Damn, Thanks for your help. I was hoping there was a windows search function for empty files.
Its a job for tomorrow though, Ive copied the file into word and it 450 pages long so its going to take me while!

Edit: Actually if the filename is:
V:\w\wY\wYP\wyPE
I have to change it to be "V:\w\wY\wYP\wyPE RD" right?

auggie2k

Find and Replace in work can be done automatically, its quick.

LillyVanilli

Ok its done, but can you confirm that this is correct?

before: V:\A\AB\ABE\ABEC\ABECD
after: RD "V:\A\AB\ABE\ABEC\ABECD"

auggie2k

Looks good to me!

LillyVanilli

All done and dusted. Thanks a million Auggie. It looked alot more complex the first time I read it.

Edit: Scrap that, didnt work, I deleted the first empty folder but no others

auggie2k

No problem, coding always looks complex ha! :-)

end.

LillyVanilli

Scrap that, didnt work, it deleted the first empty folder but no others

Capt'n Midnight

sort the list backwards so you are deleting the last folder alphabeltically first , doing this also means sub folders get deleted before main ones

LillyVanilli

The list is automatically sorted backwards, I tried it again and it didnt delete any folders this time.

Fionn101

well done auggie , perfect way to solve the problem.

How long did it take you to think of this , or have you done similar before ???

We asked this question in work to see how people would try to solve it, I'm still waiting.........

Fionn

(yeah, Friday, and we ARE that bor3d)