It can be annoying when copying or moving large files from one location to another, only to find empty directories nested inside.
Using the PowerShell Remove-Item cmdlet.
To delete empty folders in PowerShell, you can use the Remove-Item cmdlet with the -Recurse and -Force flags and specify the path to the root folder. You can also use the -Directory flag to tell PowerShell that you only want to delete directories.
Remove-Item -Path <target_folder> -Recurse -Force
This will delete all empty directories under the target_folder, including subdirectories.
You can also use the -Include flag to specify a pattern for the directories you want to delete. For example, if you only want to delete directories that have names that start with dir, you can use the following command:
Remove-Item -Path <target_folder> -Recurse -Force -Include dir*
Remember that the Remove-Item cmdlet will permanently delete directories, so be careful when using it. If you want to check which directories would be deleted without deleting them, you can use the -WhatIf flag. This will show you a list of the directories that would be deleted without actually deleting them.
Remove-Item -Path <target_folder> -Recurse -Force -WhatIf
Using The PowerShell Get-ChildItem Cmdlet
We can also combine the Get-ChildItem, Where-Object, and `Remove-Item Cmdlets to remove empty directories.
An example is as shown:
Get-ChildItem -Path <target_folder> -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer -and (Get-ChildItem -Path $_.FullName | Where-Object { !$_.PSIsContainer }) -eq $null } | Remove-Item -Force -Recurse
Similarly, we can use the -Include parameter of Get-ChildItem to specify a pattern for the directories you want to delete. For example, if you only want to delete directories that have names that start with "dir", you can use the following command:
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Path\To\Root\Folder -Recurse -Include dir* | Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer -and (Get-ChildItem -Path $_.FullName | Where-Object { !$_.PSIsContainer }) -eq $null } | Remove-Item -Force -Recurse
Closing
This tutorial covers two basic methods of recursively deleting empty files in Windows PowerShell. Feel free to leave us a comment down below and share!!
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