My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory Method 

Deletes a directory.

' Usage
My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory(directory ,onDirectoryNotEmpty)
My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory(directory ,showUI ,recycle)
My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory(directory ,showUI ,recycle ,onUserCancel)
' Declaration
Public Sub DeleteDirectory( _
   ByVal directory As String, _
   ByVal onDirectoryNotEmpty As DeleteDirectoryOption _
)
' -or-
Public Sub DeleteDirectory( _
   ByVal directory As String, _
   ByVal showUI As UIOption, _
   ByVal recycle As RecycleOption _
)
' -or-
Public Sub DeleteDirectory( _
   ByVal directory As String, _
   ByVal showUI As UIOption, _
   ByVal recycle As RecycleOption, _
   ByVal onUserCancel As UICancelOption _
)

Parameters

• directory
  String. Directory to be deleted. Required.

• onDirectoryNotEmpty
  DeleteDirectoryOption Enumeration. Specifies what should be done when a directory that is to be deleted contains files or directories. Default is DeleteDirectoryOption.DeleteAllContents.

• showUI
  UIOption Enumeration. Specifies whether to visually track the operation's progress. Default is UIOption.OnlyErrorDialogs. Required.

• recycle
  RecycleOption Enumeration. Specifies whether or not the deleted file should be sent to the Recycle Bin. Default is RecycleOption.DeletePermanently.

• onUserCancel
  UICancelOption Enumeration. Specifies whether to throw an exception if the user clicks Cancel. Required.

Exceptions

The following conditions may cause an exception:

• The path is a zero-length string, is malformed, contains only white space, or contains invalid characters (including wildcard characters) (ArgumentException).

• The path is a device path (starts with \\.\) (ArgumentException).

• The path is Nothing (ArgumentNullException).

• The directory does not exist or is a file (DirectoryNotFoundException).

• The directory is not empty, and onDirectoryNotEmpty is set to ThrowIfDirectoryNonEmpty (IOException).

• The user does not have permission to delete the directory or subdirectory (IOException).

• A file in the directory or subdirectory is in use (IOException).

• A file or directory name contains a colon (:) (NotSupportedException).

• The user cancels the operation or the directory cannot be deleted (OperationCanceledException).

• The path exceeds the system-defined maximum length (PathTooLongException).

• The user does not have required permissions (SecurityException).

Remarks

The showUI, recycle, and onUserCancel parameters are not supported in applications that are not user interactive, such as Windows Services.

Tasks

The following table lists an example of a task involving the My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory method.

To	See
Delete a directory	How to: Delete a Directory in Visual Basic

Example

The example deletes the directoryOldDirectoryonly if it is empty.

My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory _
("C:\OldDirectory", FileIO.DeleteDirectoryOption.ThrowIfDirectoryNonEmpty)

This example deletes the directoryOldDirectoryand all of its contents.

My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory _
("C:\OldDirectory", FileIO.DeleteDirectoryOption.DeleteAllContents)

This example deletes the directory OldDirectory and all of its contents, asking the user to confirm the deletion, but does not send the contents to the Recycle Bin.

My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory _
("C:\OldDirectory", FileIO.UIOption.AllDialogs, FileIO.RecycleOption.DeletePermanently, FileIO.UICancelOption.ThrowException)

This example deletes the directoryOldDirectoryand all of its contents, sending them to the Recycle Bin, but does not show the progress of the operation.

My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory("C:\OldDirectory", _
 FileIO.UIOption.AllDialogs, FileIO.RecycleOption.SendToRecycleBin, FileIO.UICancelOption.ThrowException)

Requirements

Namespace: Microsoft.VisualBasic.MyServices

Class: FileSystemProxy (provides access to FileSystem)

Assembly: Visual Basic Runtime Library (in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll)

Availability by Project Type

Project type	Available
Windows Application	Yes
Class Library	Yes
Console Application	Yes
Windows Control Library	Yes
Web Control Library	Yes
Windows Service	Yes
Web Site	Yes

Permissions

The following permissions may be necessary:

Permission	Description
FileIOPermission	Controls the ability to access files and folders. Associated enumeration: Unrestricted.
UIPermission	Controls the permissions related to user interfaces and the clipboard. Associated enumeration: SafeSubWindows.

For more information, see Code Access Security and Requesting Permissions.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Delete a File in Visual Basic
How to: Delete a Directory in Visual Basic

Reference

My.Computer.FileSystem Object
UICancelOption Enumeration
RecycleOption Enumeration
DeleteDirectoryOption Enumeration
UICancelOption Enumeration
UIOption Enumeration
Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory
UICancelOption