Searching for and Deleting multiple directories

procedure delete_all_directories(sBase, sSearch: string);
var
  h1: thandle;
  wfd: win32_find_data;
begin
  result:= 0;
  h1:= findfirstfile(pwidechar(sSearch), wfd);
  if h1= INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE then exit;

  sBase:= includetrailingbackslash(sBase);
  repeat
    if wfd.dwFileAttributes and FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY<> 0 then
    if (strpas(wfd.cFileName)<> '.') and (strpas(wfd.cFileName)<> '..') then begin
      call_your_procedure_to_delete_the_directory(sBase+ strpas(wfd.cFileName));
    end;
  until not findnextfile(h1, wfd);
  windows.findclose(h1);
end;


assuming your procedure to delete a folder is named like this:...

procedure your_procedure_to_delete_the_directory(sFoldername: string);
begin
...
end;

...you could call the above like this:

delete_all_directories('C:\Windows\System32', 'Backup*');

this way all folders with a name beginning with "Backup" are removed out of C:\Windows\System32


not tested, but should work

Hey,

I receive the following error when I try to compile the code:

Incompatible types: 'WideChar' and 'Char'


The line that it's pointing to is "h1:= findfirstfile(pwidechar(sSearch), wfd);" from the delete_all_directories procedure.

The parameters that I'm sending across are:

delete_all_directorie('D:\temp', 'Hello_')

The directories in this case that need to be deleted are "Hello_1", "Hello_2", etc.

Also, result was an undeclared identifier, which I assume because we are not returning a value, so I've just commented it out for now.

edit, disregard that typo up there, the procedure name is spelt correctly in the code (ie it reads delete_all_directories('D:\temp', 'Hello_'), not delete_all_directorie('D:\temp', 'Hello_'))

sorry, replace this line

  h1:= findfirstfile(pwidechar(sSearch), wfd);

with this one

  h1:= findfirstfile(pchar(sSearch), wfd);

thats it :) and instead of  your_procedure_to_delete_the_directory(...) you could use atul_parmars function of course, if you want

atul_parmar, I actually already use DelTree to force delete the directories, regardless of what is in there.  If I could use the same function to delete all directories starting with the same name it would be great.  At the moment, I simply call the function as (for example) DelTree('c:\temp\hello_1'); which deletes a single directory.  Is it enough to simply use DelTree('c:\temp\hello_*'); without any complications?


AmigoJack, the procedure still doesn't appear to be working correctly.  It compiles now, but it doesn't remove any of the directories listed in the path passed to it.  I stepped through the procedure and up until "sBase:= includetrailingbackslash(sBase);" the variable "sBase" has a value (eg 'D:\temp') but after that line it doesn't.  

I'm not sure if that's how the procedure is supposed to work.  Likewise, I'm having difficulties getting my head around why we can perform a "h1:= findfirstfile(pchar(sSearch), wfd);" without first specifying where we want the system to find the files to begin with (ie, the path listed in the variable sBase).  Could you clear some of this up for me?

Of course, Sebastion. Just DelTree('c:\temp\hello_*'); is enough and there are no complications just careful operation.

Try it.

atul_parmar, thanks that's what I needed to know.  I had previously tried the astericks


AmigoJack, I really appreciate your effort with regards to this, but since I'm already using DelTree it would be considerably easier to re-use it to do what I need to achieve (something I previously didn't know worked), rather than implement another procedure.  I haven't had time to test the new version of your procedure, but I expect it to work based on what I can see.


I've increased the points and split it between you two, giving most of it to atul_parmar since it fit perfectly into what I had.

Thanks again you two.