How to Delete a Folder in PowerShell?

Requirement: Remove a Directory in PowerShell.

PowerShell to Delete a Folder

Deleting a folder using PowerShell is a simple process that can be completed using a few different methods. Let’s take a look at how to delete a folder using PowerShell, step by step.

To begin, open the Windows Start menu, type “PowerShell” into the search bar, and open it as administrator (Otherwise, You may run into the “access to the path is denied” error!). To delete a folder in PowerShell, you can use the Remove-Item cmdlet with the -Recurse parameter. This cmdlet will need to specify the path of the folder you want to delete using the -Path parameter. Here’s an example of how to use it:

Remove-Item -Path C:\path\folder -Recurse

This will delete the folder and all of its contents, including subfolders and files. You can verify that everything was deleted by going to your original folder location using Windows File explorer and making sure that it has been removed completely from there.

How to force delete a folder in PowerShell?

You can use the -Force parameter to delete the folder and its contents without prompting for confirmation. For example:

Remove-Item -Path C:\path\folder -Recurse -Force

This will delete the folder and its contents without prompting for confirmation.

Delete a Folder if exists in PowerShell

Here is an example of how to delete a folder in PowerShell if it exists:

#Folder Path
$FolderPath = "C:\Temp\New"

#Check if folder exists
If (Test-Path $FolderPath) {
    # Folder not exist, delete it!
    Remove-Item -Path $FolderPath -Recurse
    Write-host "Folder Deleted at '$FolderPath'!" -f Green
}
Else {
    Write-host "Folder '$FolderPath' does not exists!" -f Red
}

Delete a Folder in the Current Directory with PowerShell

Once you have opened PowerShell, use the cd command to change directories to where the folder you want to delete is located. For example, if your folder is called “NewFolder” and it is located in “C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents”, then use the following command: cd C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents.

You can also use the rd or rmdir command, which is an alias for Remove-Item, to delete a folder and its contents. For example, to delete a Folder “New” in the current directory with all its contents without prompting for confirmation, use:

rd .\New -Recurse -Force

Delete all Files and Sub-Folders from a Folder using PowerShell

How to delete all files and sub-folders from a Folder without deleting the given folder using PowerShell?

To delete all files and folders from a specific folder using PowerShell, you can use the Remove-Item cmdlet with the -Recurse and -Force parameters.

Here’s an example of how to use this cmdlet to delete all files and folders from a folder called “C:\Temp”:

Remove-Item C:\Temp\* -Recurse -Force

The * wildcard tells PowerShell to delete all files and folders in the “C:\Temp” folder. The -Recurse parameter tells PowerShell to delete the contents of the folder, including any subfolders and files. The -Force parameter tells PowerShell to delete the files and folders without prompting for confirmation.

Wrapping up

Deleting a folder using PowerShell is a simple process that can be completed using a few different methods. This article showed you how to delete a folder using PowerShell. Please note, all these methods completely remove the Folder without sending it to the recycle bin.