Delete folder if it exists in PowerShell

Question

In my PowerShell script I'm trying to delete a folder, but only if it exists:

if (Test-Path $folder) { Remove-Item $folder -Recurse; }

I find myself repeating this combination of cmdlets quite a few times, and wished I had something like this:

# Pseudo code:
Remove-Item $folder -Recurse -IgnoreNonExistentPaths

Is there a way to do something like that? A different command, or an option I've missed from the Remove-Item documentation perhaps? Or is the only way to DRY out this bit of code to write my own cmdlet that combines Test-Path and Remove-Item?

• Mast: You may be looking for alias.
• Dangph: @Mast, an alias is just an alternative name for a command. You can't specify parameters or anything in an alias definition.

Answer 1

I assume you're just trying to avoid the error message in case it doesn't exist.

What if you just ignore it:

Remove-Item $folder -Recurse -ErrorAction Ignore

If that's not what you want, I would recommend writing your own function:

function Remove-ItemSafely {
[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true)]
param(
 [Parameter(
 Mandatory=$true,
 ValueFromPipeline=$true,
 ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true
 )]
 [String[]]
 $Path ,
 [Switch]
 $Recurse
)
 Process {
 foreach($p in $Path) {
 if(Test-Path $p) {
 Remove-Item $p -Recurse:$Recurse -WhatIf:$WhatIfPreference
 }
 }
 }
}

• jpmc26: -ErrorAction Ignore would also ignore security errors.

Answer 2

It is better to use pipeline syntax. If there are no files, then nothing will happen:

Get-ChildItem $folder -Recurse | Remove-Item

• briantist: The -Recurse should be on Remove-Item if you want it to work correctly, otherwise the directories won't be deleted unless they have no files inside. Even that way though, this won't delete $folder, only its contents, so it's good but subtly different.
• arberg: does not delete an empty $folder
• jpmc26: Sorting the items by full path and then reversing the list would ensure that children get deleted before their parents, preventing nasty "Are you sure?" prompts.

Answer 3

This will delete an empty folder as well and still propagates errors if files cannot be deleted

Get-childItem .idea\caches -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Remove-Item -Recurse

The most correct option for exceptions would be the if (test-path $p) { rm $p } version