How do I delete files from a directory?

[Sonoman]

Hi all:
I would like to find out how to write a small program that deletes files. I
want to be able to delete all files from a known directory (i.e. cookies,
temp files, etc.) regardless of type and name, "or" may be by extension.
This way I could have it run on start up and I will have my computer free of
junk every time I reboot. What should I use? Please advise.

[Richard Herring]

Post by Sonoman
I would like to find out how to write a small program that deletes files. I
want to be able to delete all files from a known directory (i.e. cookies,
temp files, etc.) regardless of type and name, "or" may be by extension.
This way I could have it run on start up and I will have my computer free of
junk every time I reboot. What should I use?

You should use the scripting language provided by your operating system.

Post by Sonoman
Please advise.

This is not something that can be done using standard C++.

[Andreas Baumgart]

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:32:42 -0400

Post by Sonoman
I would like to find out how to write a small program that deletes files. I
want to be able to delete all files from a known directory (i.e. cookies,
temp files, etc.) regardless of type and name, "or" may be by
extension.

The way you delete files from a filesystem normally depends on the
syscalls your os provides. So there is no clear way to do this.

On Linux systems there is a syscall "unlink" which can do that. There
also exists an accordant function unlink() in the libc. I am quite sure
there exists a similar library for Windows, too.

Greets,
Andreas

[Jack Klein]

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:05:55 +0200, Andreas Baumgart

Post by Andreas Baumgart
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:32:42 -0400

Post by Sonoman
I would like to find out how to write a small program that deletes files. I
want to be able to delete all files from a known directory (i.e. cookies,
temp files, etc.) regardless of type and name, "or" may be by extension.

The way you delete files from a filesystem normally depends on the
syscalls your os provides. So there is no clear way to do this.

Apparently you are unaware of the standard C++ library function
std::remove() prototyped in <cstdlib>, which may also be invoked as
::remove() by including <stdlib.h>.

These have been part of the ISO C standard for 15 years now, and part
of ISO C++ for nearly 6 years. They work on all conforming hosted
implementations, and that includes Linux and Windows.

Post by Andreas Baumgart
On Linux systems there is a syscall "unlink" which can do that. There
also exists an accordant function unlink() in the libc. I am quite sure
there exists a similar library for Windows, too.
Greets,
Andreas

[Richard Herring]

Post by Jack Klein
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:05:55 +0200, Andreas Baumgart

Post by Andreas Baumgart
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:32:42 -0400

Post by Sonoman
I would like to find out how to write a small program that deletes files. I
want to be able to delete all files from a known directory (i.e. cookies,
temp files, etc.) regardless of type and name, "or" may be by extension.

The way you delete files from a filesystem normally depends on the
syscalls your os provides. So there is no clear way to do this.

Apparently you are unaware of the standard C++ library function
std::remove() prototyped in <cstdlib>, which may also be invoked as
::remove() by including <stdlib.h>.

Ahem. The OP wants to delete _all_ files, not a single named file. I
don't think you can use std::remove() to do that, without some
system-dependent support to enumerate the files.

[Jeff Flinn]

Sonoman,

Post by Sonoman
I would like to find out how to write a small program that deletes files. I
want to be able to delete all files from a known directory (i.e. cookies,
temp files, etc.) regardless of type and name, "or" may be by extension.
This way I could have it run on start up and I will have my computer free of
junk every time I reboot. What should I use? Please advise.

See http://www.boost.org/libs/filesystem/doc/operations.htm#remove_all.

Jeff F

[rossum]

Post by Sonoman
I would like to find out how to write a small program that deletes files. I
want to be able to delete all files from a known directory (i.e. cookies,
temp files, etc.) regardless of type and name, "or" may be by extension.
This way I could have it run on start up and I will have my computer free of
junk every time I reboot. What should I use? Please advise.

I suggest you look at the remove(const char *filename) function in
cstdio which might be what you want.

rossum



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