Batch Command To Delete Only Empty Subfolders

WyattCollins said:

Is there a cmd.exe batch command "one-liner" that deletes or removes only empty subdirectories?

Click to expand...

for /f "delims=" %d in ('dir /s /b /ad ^| sort /r') do rd "%d"

@echo off
set "mainFolder=C:\Path\To\Your\MainFolder"

for /f "delims=" %%d in ('dir "%mainFolder%" /ad /b /s ^| sort /r') do (
    rd "%%d" 2>nul
)

echo All empty subfolders in %mainFolder% have been deleted.pause

• Replace C:\Path\To\Your\MainFolder with the path to your main folder.
• Save the script as a .bat file, for example, DeleteEmptySubfolders.bat.
• Run the batch file.

$mainFolder = "C:\Path\To\Your\MainFolder"

Get-ChildItem -Path $mainFolder -Recurse -Directory | Where-Object { $_.GetFileSystemInfos().Count -eq 0 } | Remove-Item -Force

• Replace C:\Path\To\Your\MainFolder with the path to your main folder.
• Open PowerShell and run the command.

LesFerch said:

You can ask ChatGPT to write it for you. For example, ChatGPT wrote the following script with the prompt "Write a PowerShell one-liner to recursively delete empty folders":

Powershell:

Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Your\Target\Directory" -Recurse -Directory | Where-Object { $_.GetFiles().Count -eq 0 -and $_.GetDirectories().Count -eq 0 } | Remove-Item

Click to expand...

garlin said:

ChatGPT doesn't understand head vs. tail recursion. I'm sure your Programming 101 lecturer isn't giving it a passing grade...

Click to expand...

garlin said:

This morning, I did work on a removal script based a Super User discussion thread, mostly because it's useful watching other devs argue about what's wrong with another person's script. The weird thing is if you have a top level folder that's empty, none of the Get-ChildItem -Recurse scripts will remove the starting folder. Because a parent folder isn't a child of itself. So I corrected that silly error.

Copy this script as Remove_EmptyFolders.bat:

Code:

<# : batch script
@echo off
powershell -nop Invoke-Expression ('$args = @(''%*'' -split '' '')' + [System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('%~f0'))
goto :eof
#>

if ($args[0] -eq '') {
   exit
}

$Path = $args[0]

if (-not (Test-Path $Path)) {
   "`"$Path`" folder doesn't exist."
   exit
}

@(Get-ChildItem $Path -Recurse -Directory -Force; Get-Item $Path) | Sort-Object -Property FullName -Descending | Where-Object { $($_ | Get-ChildItem -Force | Select-Object -First 1).Count -eq 0 } | Remove-Item -Force -Verbose

If you don't want the output, remove the "-Verbose" option from the script's final line. But I think it's useful to visually confirm what the script is doing.
Using the "-Recurse -Force" option, it will track down hidden folders for you.

Code:

C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads>Remove_EmptyFolders.bat TEST
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST\8".
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST\7".
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST\5\6".
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST\5".
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST\1\2\3\4".
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST\1\2\3".
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST\1\2".
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST\1".
VERBOSE: Performing the operation "Remove Directory" on target "C:\Users\GARLIN\Downloads\TEST".

Click to expand...

WyattCollins said:

Am I required to use PowerShell to accomplish the desired result?
In my original post, I thought I made it clear enough by saying "cmd.exe"

Click to expand...

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

:: Change this to the directory you want to clean up
set "targetDir=C:\path\to\your\directory"

:: Check if targetDir exists
if not exist "%targetDir%" (
    echo The specified directory does not exist.
    exit /b 1
)

:: Go to the target directory
pushd "%targetDir%"

:: Loop to find and remove empty directories
:loop
set "removed=0"
for /f "delims=" %%d in ('dir /ad /b /s ^| sort /r') do (
    if not exist "%%d\*" (
        rd "%%d" 2>nul
        if not exist "%%d" (
            echo Removed empty directory: %%d
            set "removed=1"
        )
    )
)

:: If no directories were removed, exit the loop
if "!removed!"=="0" goto :done

:: Repeat the loop if any directories were removed
goto :loop

:done
:: Return to the original directory
popd
echo Cleanup complete.
endlocal

WyattCollins said:

Am I required to use PowerShell to accomplish the desired result?
In my original post, I thought I made it clear enough by saying "cmd.exe"

Click to expand...

LesFerch said:

You can ask ChatGPT to write it for you. For example, ChatGPT wrote the following script with the prompt "Write a PowerShell one-liner to recursively delete empty folders":

Powershell:

Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Your\Target\Directory" -Recurse -Directory | Where-Object { $_.GetFiles().Count -eq 0 -and $_.GetDirectories().Count -eq 0 } | Remove-Item

Click to expand...

hsehestedt said:

Why does everyone seem to want to do this the hard way?

Click to expand...

LesFerch said:

However, it doesn't remove folders that only contain hidden/system files such as desktop.ini or thumbs.db, but that's also true of the other scripts that have been posted.

Click to expand...

garlin said:

The question becomes do you provide an exclusion list, like for Explorer files (desktop.ini, Thumbs.db) to ignore while counting? Because other hidden or system files may be essential to the folder's existence.
Say the user runs the script on the Windows folder.

Click to expand...