Folder cleanup with PowerShell

Question

I'd like to clean up some directories after my script runs by deleting certain folders and files from the current directory if they exist. Originally, I structured the script like this:

if (Test-Path Folder1) {
  Remove-Item -r Folder1
}
if (Test-Path Folder2) {
  Remove-Item -r Folder2
}
if (Test-Path File1) {
  Remove-Item File1
}

Now that I have quite a few items listed in this section, I'd like to clean up the code. How can I do so?

Side note: The items are cleaned up before the script runs, since they are left over from the previous run in case I need to examine them.

Answer 1

One possibility

function ql {$args}

ql Folder1 Folder2 Folder3 File3 |
    ForEach {
        if(Test-Path $_) {
            Remove-Item $_
        }
    }

Answer 2

# if you do not mind to have a few ignored errors
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction 0 @(
    'Directory1'
    'Directory2'
    'File1'
)

Answer 3

Folder1, Folder2, File1, Folder3 |
    ?{ test-path $_ } |
        %{
            if ($_.PSIsContainer) {
                rm -rec $_ #  For directories, do the delete recursively
            } else {
                rm $_ #  for files, just delete the item
            }
        }

Or, you could do two separate blocks for each type.

Folder1, Folder2, File1, Folder3 |
    ?{ test-path $_ } |
        ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } |
            rm -rec

Folder1, Folder2, File1, Folder3 |
    ?{ test-path $_ } |
        ?{ -not ($_.PSIsContainer) } |
            rm

Answer 4

# if you want to avoid errors on missed paths
# (because even ignored errors are added to $Error)
# (or you want to -ErrorAction Stop if an item is not removed)
@(
    'Directory1'
    'Directory2'
    'File1'
) |
Where-Object { Test-Path $_ } |
ForEach-Object { Remove-Item $_ -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction Stop }