How do you delete N files of X type from Y subfolders from a Windows batch file?

Question

I'm trying to write a windows batch file that can delete files from subdirectories. I would rather not hard code the directory structure in, so I can use this process with other projects.

• I need to delete files of X type
• I have the parent folder C:\MyProject
• There are Y subfolders C:\MyProject\?
• There are N files to delete

Is there a quick del (of type) function I am simply missing?

Answer 1

Actually you can use the standard del command:

c:
cd MyProject
del /S *.type

Where type is the extension you want to delete and the /S parameter will check in all subfolders of MyProject.

Answer 2

If the del command didn't have the /S flag to delete recursively, I'd use AWK to do something like this (you'd need the UNIX tools for Windows):

dir MyProject\*.* /ad /s /b | gawk "{print \"del \\\"\" $0 \"\\*.type\\\"\";}" | cmd

My 2 cents, in case you ever need to do something similar (applying a program to all files of X type in all subfolders) with a command that lacks a recursive flag.