powershell won't remove multiple directories

Question

I am relatively new to power-shell. I can delete folders individually, but I can't delete multiple folders, nor can I use a loop.

rmdir 'folder 1' -Recurse -Force in the folder works.

rmdir 'folder 1' 'folder 2' -Recurse -Force does not.

these also don't work.

$filenames = Get-Content -Path ".\delete.txt"
foreach ($file in $filenames) {
    Remove-Item -Force -Recurse -Path "./$file"
}

$filenames = Get-Content -Path ".\delete.txt"
foreach ($file in $filenames) {
Remove-Item "./$file" -Force -Recurse -Path
}

What am I missing?

Chester Ayala · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-26 21:31:16Z

3

Please use comma (,) if you have two or more folders to remove.

Remove-Item -Path "folder 1", "folder 2" -Recurse -Force

The first code block with the foreach loop that you provided is working fine. Just make sure that the files in delete.txt are all in the current directory. Otherwise, just use full paths in delete.txt and replace "./$file" to $file.

edited Nov 26, 2022 at 21:31

answered Nov 26, 2022 at 21:23

Chester Ayala

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2 Comments

Sandrocottus Over a year ago

It does not work if the folder paths are stored in variables.

Chester Ayala Over a year ago

Store your folder paths in an array variable like this $filenames = ("C:\folder1", "C:\folder2"). Then you can use the for each loop block or this one-line answer. Remove-Item -Path $filenames -Recurse -Force

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