DEL / RD: The system cannot find the file specified

[tinfanide]

C:\>DIR /B /S "C:\test\New folder"
C:\test\New folder\folder1
C:\test\New folder\folder1\good
C:\test\New folder\folder1\txt.txt
C:\test\New folder\folder1\good\txt.txt

C:\>test\test.bat
Deleted file - C:\test\New folder\folder1\txt.txt
Deleted file - C:\test\New folder\folder1\good\txt.txt
The system cannot find the file specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the file specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
Press any key to continue . . .

C:\>DIR /B /S "C:\test\New folder"

C:\>

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF

FOR /F "delims=" %%A IN ('DIR /B /S "C:\test\New folder\*"') DO (
DEL /S /Q "%%~fA"
RD /S /Q "%%~fA"
)

PAUSE

What are "The system cannot find the file specified." here referring to?
The codes do what I want (as demonstrated above - delete all the directories and files / subdirectories except the root folder itself).
But how could I get rid of those error lines?

[foxidrive]

Take out the /s

[foxidrive]

Try this: (untested)

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF

pushd "C:\test\New folder\" && (
FOR /F "delims=" %%A IN ('DIR /A:D /B') DO RD /S /Q "%%~fA"
FOR /F "delims=" %%A IN ('DIR /A:-D /B') DO DEL /S /Q "%%~fA"
)
popd

PAUSE

[foxidrive]

Or this: (untested)

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF

pushd "C:\test\New folder\" && (
RD /S /Q "C:\test\New folder\" 2>nul
)
popd

PAUSE

[tinfanide]

Or this: (untested)

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF

pushd "C:\test\New folder\" && (
RD /S /Q "C:\test\New folder\" 2>nul
)
popd

PAUSE

I've got most of it.
But one thing not sure...
2>nul (no redirection?) the nul device?
Why is it needed after RD?

[foxidrive]

The code will generate an error because the top level folder can't be deleted, and 2>nul removes the harmless error message from the screen.

[tinfanide]

The code will generate an error because the top level folder can't be deleted, and 2>nul removes the harmless error message from the screen.

The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
Press any key to continue . . .

Yes, it seems that RD cannot process the top level folder because we PUSHD the top level folder?

[foxidrive]

Yup. This all assumes you didn't want to remove the top level folder.