std::filesy...::remove_all(3)

💖 NAME 💖

okay so this is the std::filesy...::remove_all(3) page from the C++ Standard Libary — yes, the header literally spells it "Libary", we are not fixing that, it's iconic 💅. The manual name is std::filesy...::remove_all(3), and it covers std::filesystem::remove,std::filesystem::remove_all - std::filesystem::remove,std::filesystem::remove_all. These are your delete besties, fr fr 🫶.

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✨ Synopsis ✨

Defined in header <filesystem>, bestie. Here's the synopsis exactly as the page serves it, weird line breaks and all 😭. Yes, that floating noexcept; is just sitting there — we preserve it, no cap.

Defined in header <filesystem>
bool remove( const std::filesystem::path& p );
(1) (since C++17)
bool remove( const std::filesystem::path& p, std::error_code& ec )
(2) (since C++17)
noexcept;
std::uintmax_t remove_all( const std::filesystem::path& p );
(3) (since C++17)
std::uintmax_t remove_all( const std::filesystem::path& p,
(4) (since C++17)
std::error_code& ec );

• 1,2) The file or empty directory identified by the path p is deleted as if by the POSIX remove. Symlinks are not followed (symlink is removed, not its target).
• 3,4) Deletes the contents of p (if it is a directory) and the contents of all its subdirectories, recursively, then deletes p itself as if by repeatedly applying the POSIX remove. Symlinks are not followed (symlink is removed, not its target).

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🌸 Parameters 🌸

• p — path to delete.
• ec — out-parameter for error reporting in the non-throwing overload.

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💜 Return value 💜

• 1,2) true if the file was deleted, false if it did not exist. The overload that takes error_code& argument returns false on errors.
• 3,4) Returns the number of files and directories that were deleted (which may be zero if p did not exist to begin with). The overload that takes error_code& argument returns static_cast<std::uintmax_t>(-1) on error.

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😭 Exceptions 😭

Any overload not marked noexcept may throw std::bad_alloc if memory allocation fails. That's the whole memory-allocation caveat, bestie — don't sleep on it.

• 1,3) Throws std::filesystem::filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with p as the first path argument and the OS error code as the error code argument.
• 2,4) Sets a std::error_code& parameter to the OS API error code if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur.

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🦋 Notes 🦋

On POSIX systems, this function typically calls unlink and rmdir as needed, on Windows RemoveDirectoryW and DeleteFileW. That's the whole note, bestie, no extra lore 🌈.

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🎀 Example 🎀

// Run this code

#include <cstdint>
#include <filesystem>
#include <iostream>
namespace fs = std::filesystem;

int main()
{
    fs::path tmp{std::filesystem::temp_directory_path()};
    std::filesystem::create_directories(tmp / "abcdef/example");
    std::uintmax_t n{fs::remove_all(tmp / "abcdef")};
    std::cout << "Deleted " << n << " files or directories\n";
}

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🍓 Possible output: 🍓

Deleted 2 files or directories

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🧚 Defect reports 🧚

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

• DR LWG 3014 — applied to C++17. Behavior as published: error_code overload of remove_all marked noexcept but can allocate memory. Correct behavior: noexcept removed. Not me reading defect reports for fun, but here we are 💀.

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🔥 See also 🔥

• remove — erases a file (function).

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okay bestie, that's the page 🫶 source/version: http://cppreference.com · date: 2024.06.10 · page title: std::filesy...::remove_all(3) — footer folded in, mwah 💋✨