PHP: delete directory with files in it?

Question

hey guys, i wonder what's the easiest way to delete a directory with all it's files in it?

i'm using rmdir(PATH . '/' . $value); to delete a folder. however if there are files inside of it, i simply can't delete it.

regards

Answer 1

There are at least two options available nowdays.

1. Before deleting the folder, delete all it's files and folders (and this means recursion!). Here is an example:

   public static function deleteDir($dirPath) {
       if (! is_dir($dirPath)) {
           throw new InvalidArgumentException('$dirPath must be a directory');
       }
       if (substr($dirPath, strlen($dirPath) - 1, 1) != '/') {
           $dirPath .= '/';
       }
       $files = glob($dirPath . '*', GLOB_MARK);
       foreach ($files as $file) {
           if (is_dir($file)) {
               self::deleteDir($file);
           } else {
               unlink($file);
           }
       }
       rmdir($dirPath);
   }
   

2. And if you are using 5.3 you can use a RecrusiveIterator to do it without recrusion, but it may not seem so simple:

   $it = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator(
             'samples' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'sampledirtree');
   $files = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($it,
                RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST);
   foreach($files as $file){
       if ($file->isDir()){
           rmdir($file->getRealPath());
       } else {
           unlink($file->getRealPath());
       }
   }
   

Answer 2

what's the easiest way to delete a directory with all it's files in it?

system("rm -rf $dir");