Why would Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Remove-Item work?
I've seen on a lot of places (for example, here, here, or here) where people suggest to use
Get-ChildItem -Path "Some path" -Recurse | Remove-Item
to recursively delete a directory, but why would this work?
When I run Get-ChildItem -Path "foo" -Recurse | % { "$_" }, I see directories were listed first, and then files follows.
It shows something like this:
1st_child_directory
2st_child_directory
...
1st_file_in_foo
2nd_file_in_foo
...
1st_file_in_1st_child_directory
2st_file_in_1st_child_directory
...
1st_file_in_2st_child_directory
...
And so on.
If these get piped into Remove-Item in the same order, then Remove-Item would remove directories first (which are still non-empty), and then remove files inside directories (but directories should already been removed), and this is a bit counter-intuitive...
So why would Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Remove-Item work, and how does it work?
powershell get-childitem
asked Dec 28 '18 at 0:10
LanYi
3625
add a comment |
I've seen on a lot of places (for example, here, here, or here) where people suggest to use
Get-ChildItem -Path "Some path" -Recurse | Remove-Item
to recursively delete a directory, but why would this work?
When I run Get-ChildItem -Path "foo" -Recurse | % { "$_" }, I see directories were listed first, and then files follows.
It shows something like this:
1st_child_directory
2st_child_directory
...
1st_file_in_foo
2nd_file_in_foo
...
1st_file_in_1st_child_directory
2st_file_in_1st_child_directory
...
1st_file_in_2st_child_directory
...
And so on.
If these get piped into Remove-Item in the same order, then Remove-Item would remove directories first (which are still non-empty), and then remove files inside directories (but directories should already been removed), and this is a bit counter-intuitive...
So why would Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Remove-Item work, and how does it work?
powershell get-childitem
asked Dec 28 '18 at 0:10
LanYi
3625
1
Your examples have either the-Forceparameter applied or use an extension*.csvwhich folders rarely have.
– LotPings
Dec 28 '18 at 0:31
You can find out: Create some sample directories and files and run the command, and see if it works or not.
– Bill_Stewart
Dec 28 '18 at 16:53
add a comment |
I've seen on a lot of places (for example, here, here, or here) where people suggest to use
Get-ChildItem -Path "Some path" -Recurse | Remove-Item
to recursively delete a directory, but why would this work?
When I run Get-ChildItem -Path "foo" -Recurse | % { "$_" }, I see directories were listed first, and then files follows.
It shows something like this:
1st_child_directory
2st_child_directory
...
1st_file_in_foo
2nd_file_in_foo
...
1st_file_in_1st_child_directory
2st_file_in_1st_child_directory
...
1st_file_in_2st_child_directory
...
And so on.
If these get piped into Remove-Item in the same order, then Remove-Item would remove directories first (which are still non-empty), and then remove files inside directories (but directories should already been removed), and this is a bit counter-intuitive...
So why would Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Remove-Item work, and how does it work?
powershell get-childitem
asked Dec 28 '18 at 0:10
LanYi
3625
I've seen on a lot of places (for example, here, here, or here) where people suggest to use
Get-ChildItem -Path "Some path" -Recurse | Remove-Item
to recursively delete a directory, but why would this work?
When I run Get-ChildItem -Path "foo" -Recurse | % { "$_" }, I see directories were listed first, and then files follows.
It shows something like this:
1st_child_directory
2st_child_directory
...
1st_file_in_foo
2nd_file_in_foo
...
1st_file_in_1st_child_directory
2st_file_in_1st_child_directory
...
1st_file_in_2st_child_directory
...
And so on.
If these get piped into Remove-Item in the same order, then Remove-Item would remove directories first (which are still non-empty), and then remove files inside directories (but directories should already been removed), and this is a bit counter-intuitive...
So why would Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Remove-Item work, and how does it work?
powershell get-childitem
powershell get-childitem
asked Dec 28 '18 at 0:10
LanYi
3625
asked Dec 28 '18 at 0:10
LanYi
3625
edited Dec 28 '18 at 0:20
asked Dec 28 '18 at 0:10
LanYi
3625
asked Dec 28 '18 at 0:10
LanYi
3625
asked Dec 28 '18 at 0:10
LanYi
3625
3625
1
Your examples have either the-Forceparameter applied or use an extension*.csvwhich folders rarely have.
– LotPings
Dec 28 '18 at 0:31
You can find out: Create some sample directories and files and run the command, and see if it works or not.
– Bill_Stewart
Dec 28 '18 at 16:53
add a comment |
1
Your examples have either the-Forceparameter applied or use an extension*.csvwhich folders rarely have.
– LotPings
Dec 28 '18 at 0:31
You can find out: Create some sample directories and files and run the command, and see if it works or not.
– Bill_Stewart
Dec 28 '18 at 16:53
1
1
Your examples have either the
-Force parameter applied or use an extension *.csv which folders rarely have.– LotPings
Dec 28 '18 at 0:31
Your examples have either the
-Force parameter applied or use an extension *.csv which folders rarely have.– LotPings
Dec 28 '18 at 0:31
You can find out: Create some sample directories and files and run the command, and see if it works or not.
– Bill_Stewart
Dec 28 '18 at 16:53
You can find out: Create some sample directories and files and run the command, and see if it works or not.
– Bill_Stewart
Dec 28 '18 at 16:53
add a comment |
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1
Your examples have either the
-Forceparameter applied or use an extension*.csvwhich folders rarely have.– LotPings
Dec 28 '18 at 0:31
You can find out: Create some sample directories and files and run the command, and see if it works or not.
– Bill_Stewart
Dec 28 '18 at 16:53