How do I remove/delete a folder that is not empty with Python?

Question

I am getting an 'access is denied' error when I attempt to delete a folder that is not empty. I used the following command in my attempt: os.remove("/folder_name"). What is the most effective way of removing/deleting a folder/directory that is not empty? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

import shutil

shutil.rmtree('/folder_name')

Standard Library Reference: shutil.rmtree.

Answer 2

From the python docs:

# Delete everything reachable from the directory named in 'top',
# assuming there are no symbolic links.
# CAUTION:  This is dangerous!  For example, if top == '/', it
# could delete all your disk files.
import os
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(top, topdown=False):
    for name in files:
        os.remove(os.path.join(root, name))
    for name in dirs:
        os.rmdir(os.path.join(root, name))