deleting all files in documents directory

ansaf_130 · January 22, 2013, 2:31am

I want to add a functionality in my app that if user press back button without saving his/her data, all saved files in documents directory get deleted… Now I dont know how to completely flush this directory. Can anybody help me here? [import]uid: 173824 topic_id: 35189 reply_id: 335189[/import]

ansaf_130 · January 22, 2013, 5:12am

it is working …
Although its not an issue but just for the curiosity that this loop not only delete the files in documents directory but also delete the complete folder /documents …
Is it possible that the directory become empty but not deleted
On relaunching the project, it is there,so not an issue
Thank you [import]uid: 173824 topic_id: 35189 reply_id: 139912[/import]

ingemar · January 22, 2013, 5:35am

Have a look at these links
http://docs.coronalabs.com/api/library/lfs/index.html
http://docs.coronalabs.com/api/library/os/index.html

local lfs = require "lfs"; local doc\_dir = system.DocumentsDirectory; local doc\_path = system.pathForFile("", doc\_dir); local resultOK, errorMsg; for file in lfs.dir(doc\_path) do local theFile = system.pathForFile(file, doc\_dir); if (lfs.attributes(theFile, "mode") ~= "directory") then resultOK, errorMsg = os.remove(theFile); if (resultOK) then print(file.." removed"); else print("Error removing file: "..file..":"..errorMsg); end end end

ingemar · January 22, 2013, 5:40am

Ooops! That’s what I get for writing code in a post without testing… really sorry for that.
I forgot that it returned the system files “.” and “…” Ouch!

Anyway the code above has been modified to test for directories now and should only remove all files… [import]uid: 70847 topic_id: 35189 reply_id: 139916[/import]

ansaf_130 · January 23, 2013, 2:03am

well this too deleting \documents directory.
I dont know why as check is there but still…!! [import]uid: 173824 topic_id: 35189 reply_id: 140057[/import]

ansaf_130 · January 22, 2013, 5:12am

it is working …
Although its not an issue but just for the curiosity that this loop not only delete the files in documents directory but also delete the complete folder /documents …
Is it possible that the directory become empty but not deleted
On relaunching the project, it is there,so not an issue
Thank you [import]uid: 173824 topic_id: 35189 reply_id: 139912[/import]

ingemar · January 22, 2013, 5:35am

Have a look at these links
http://docs.coronalabs.com/api/library/lfs/index.html
http://docs.coronalabs.com/api/library/os/index.html

local lfs = require "lfs"; local doc\_dir = system.DocumentsDirectory; local doc\_path = system.pathForFile("", doc\_dir); local resultOK, errorMsg; for file in lfs.dir(doc\_path) do local theFile = system.pathForFile(file, doc\_dir); if (lfs.attributes(theFile, "mode") ~= "directory") then resultOK, errorMsg = os.remove(theFile); if (resultOK) then print(file.." removed"); else print("Error removing file: "..file..":"..errorMsg); end end end

ingemar · January 22, 2013, 5:40am

Ooops! That’s what I get for writing code in a post without testing… really sorry for that.
I forgot that it returned the system files “.” and “…” Ouch!

Anyway the code above has been modified to test for directories now and should only remove all files… [import]uid: 70847 topic_id: 35189 reply_id: 139916[/import]

ansaf_130 · January 23, 2013, 2:03am

well this too deleting \documents directory.
I dont know why as check is there but still…!! [import]uid: 173824 topic_id: 35189 reply_id: 140057[/import]

rxmarccall · July 23, 2013, 1:03am

Hey guys,

Can you help me figure out how to delete a folder found in the DocumentsDirectory?

So I have “Documents/gameContent” for example.

I just want to delete the “gameContent” folder only, because I have other stuff in the “Documents” folder that needs to stay untouched.

ingemar · July 23, 2013, 4:18am

You can use lfs.rmdir() or os.remove() to remove directories.

rxmarccall · July 23, 2013, 4:45am

So calling os.remove() on a path to my “gameContent” will delete it and everything contained inside it? Here is what I am currently trying.

--Used to delete volume content if requested by the user menuFunctions.deleteVolumeContent = function( event ) if global.volumeToDelete ~= 0 then local lfs = require "lfs"; local doc\_dir = system.DocumentsDirectory local doc\_path = system.pathForFile("", doc\_dir); --Change directory to the Documents directory lfs.chdir( doc\_path ) --Change directory to the volume 2 directory lfs.chdir( lfs.currentdir() .. "/volume2") --Get current path and hold in variable local currentPath = lfs.currentdir() local resultOK, errorMsg; for file in lfs.dir(currentPath) do local theFile = system.pathForFile(file, doc\_dir); if (lfs.attributes(theFile, "mode") ~= "directory") then resultOK, errorMsg = os.remove(theFile); if (resultOK) then print(file.." removed"); else print("Error removing file: "..file..":"..errorMsg); end end end else native.showAlert("Alert", "You must select a volume to delete first.", {"Okay"}) end end

ingemar · July 23, 2013, 10:48am

You have a few errors in your function, and you don’t need to change directory for this to work.

Look at the following modified code:

menuFunctions.deleteVolumeContent = function( event ) if global.volumeToDelete ~= 0 then local lfs = require "lfs"; local doc\_dir = system.DocumentsDirectory; local doc\_path = system.pathForFile("volume2", doc\_dir); local resultOK, errorMsg; --remove files from directory for file in lfs.dir(doc\_path) do local theFile = doc\_path.."/"..file; if (lfs.attributes(theFile, "mode") ~= "directory") then resultOK, errorMsg = os.remove(theFile); if (resultOK) then print(file.." removed"); else print("Error removing file: "..file..":"..errorMsg); end end end -- -- remove directory -- resultOK, errorMsg = os.remove(doc\_path); -- -- if (resultOK) then -- print(doc\_path.." removed"); -- else -- print("Error removing file: "..doc\_path..":"..errorMsg); -- end else native.showAlert("Alert", "You must select a volume to delete first.", {"Okay"}) end end

This will delete the contents of your ‘volume2’ directory.

If you also want to delete ‘volume2’ after the files are removed, just un-comment the block at the end.

rxmarccall · July 23, 2013, 3:59pm

@ingemar,

Thank you for helping me out. The code you supplied does delete the files found directly inside “volume2”, but I actually have several more layers of folders inside of “volume2” that are not getting traversed. How could your code traverse all folders and delete everything? Here is a image to show the layout of the “volume2” folder and its layers of folders.

ScreenShot2013-07-23at95758AM_zps3b8e8fe

Might need to do some kind of recursion?

ingemar · July 23, 2013, 10:29pm

Yep, recursion is the key… something like this should do it.

(Be careful though, it will delete everything without asking)

local lfs = require "lfs"; --forward declaration local deleteDirectory; deleteDirectory = function(dir) local resultOK, errorMsg; --remove files from directory for file in lfs.dir(dir) do if ((file == ".") or (file == "..")) then -- skip system files -- do nothing else local theFile = dir.."/"..file; if (lfs.attributes(theFile, "mode") == "directory") then deleteDirectory(theFile); else resultOK, errorMsg = os.remove(theFile); if (not resultOK) then print("Error removing file: "..file..":"..errorMsg); end end end end -- remove directory resultOK, errorMsg = os.remove(dir); if (not resultOK) then print("Error removing directory: "..dir..":"..errorMsg); end end menuFunctions.deleteVolumeContent = function( event ) if global.volumeToDelete ~= 0 then local doc\_dir = system.DocumentsDirectory; local doc\_path = system.pathForFile("volume2", doc\_dir); deleteDirectory(doc\_path); else native.showAlert("Alert", "You must select a volume to delete first.", {"Okay"}) end end

rxmarccall · July 24, 2013, 12:01am