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How to: Delete All Files in a Directory in Visual Basic

The DeleteFile method of the My.Computer.FileSystem object allows you to delete a file. Among the options it offers are: whether to send the deleted file to the Recycle Bin, whether to ask the user to confirm that the file should be deleted, and what to do when the user cancels the operation.

To delete all of the files in a folder

  1. Use the My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles method to return the collection of strings representing the files in the directory.

  2. Use a For…Each loop with the DeleteFile method to delete each file in turn.

    The following example deletes all files in the My Documents folder.

    For Each foundFile As String In My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles(
        My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyDocuments,
        Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.SearchOption.SearchAllSubDirectories, "*.*")
    
        My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteFile(foundFile,
            Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.UIOption.AllDialogs,
            Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.RecycleOption.DeletePermanently)
    Next
    

Robust Programming

The following conditions may cause an exception:

See Also

Tasks

How to: Delete a File in Visual Basic

How to: Delete a Directory in Visual Basic

How to: Rename a File in Visual Basic

How to: Determine the Absolute Path of a File in Visual Basic

Reference

FileSystem

DeleteFile

RecycleOption

UICancelOption