Delete directory with files in it?

Question

I wonder, what's the easiest way to delete a directory with all its files in it? I'm using `rmdir(PATH . '/' . $value);` to delete a folder, however, if there are files inside of it, I simply can't delete it.

Accepted Answer

There are at least two options available nowadays.

Before deleting the folder, delete all its files and folders (and this means recursion!). Here is an example:

```
function deleteDir(string $dirPath): void {
    if (! is_dir($dirPath)) {
        throw new InvalidArgumentException("$dirPath must be a directory");
    }
    if (substr($dirPath, strlen($dirPath) - 1, 1) != '/') {
        $dirPath .= '/';
    }
    $files = glob($dirPath . '*', GLOB_MARK);
    foreach ($files as $file) {
        if (is_dir($file)) {
            deleteDir($file);
        } else {
            unlink($file);
        }
    }
    rmdir($dirPath);
}
```

And if you are using 5.2+ you can use a RecursiveIterator to do it without implementing the recursion yourself:

```
function removeDir(string $dir): void {
    $it = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($dir, RecursiveDirectoryIterator::SKIP_DOTS);
    $files = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($it,
                 RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST);
    foreach($files as $file) {
        if ($file->isDir()){
            rmdir($file->getPathname());
        } else {
            unlink($file->getPathname());
        }
    }
    rmdir($dir);
}
```

Delete directory with files in it?

Solution

Problem

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