{"id":5669,"date":"2021-05-16T10:44:19","date_gmt":"2021-05-16T05:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/?p=5669"},"modified":"2021-11-22T18:40:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T13:10:51","slug":"python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/","title":{"rendered":"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree()"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() in Python ?<\/h2>\n<p>In this article, we will discuss about how we can delete an empty directory and also all contents of a directory including sub directories using shutil.rmtree().<\/p>\n<h3>Delete an empty directory using os.rmdir() :<\/h3>\n<p>The os module of python provide a function i.e. <code>os.rmdir(pathOfDir)<\/code> which can delete an empty directory. It can also give rise to certain errors in some scenarios like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When directory is not empty :<\/strong> OSError: [WinError 145] The directory is not empty:<\/li>\n<li><strong>When the given path not pointing to any of the directory :<\/strong> NotADirectoryError: [WinError 267] The directory name is invalid:<\/li>\n<li><strong>When the given path has no directory :<\/strong> FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"python\">#Program :\r\n\r\nimport os\r\n\r\n# Deleting a empty directory using function os.rmdir() and handle the exceptions\r\ntry:\r\n os.rmdir('\/somedirec\/log2')\r\n\r\nexcept:\r\n print('Not found directory')<\/pre>\n<pre>Output :\r\nNot found directory<\/pre>\n<h3>Delete all files in a directory &amp; sub-directories recursively using shutil.rmtree() :<\/h3>\n<p>The shutil module of python provides a function i.e. <code>shutil.rmtree()<\/code> to delete all the contents present in a directory.<\/p>\n<pre>\u00a0Syntax : shutil.rmtree(path, ignore_errors=False, onerror=None)<\/pre>\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"python\">import shutil\r\n\r\ndirPath = '\/somedirec\/logs5\/';\r\n\r\n# trying to delete all contents of a directory and handle exceptions\r\ntry:\r\n shutil.rmtree(dirPath)\r\n\r\nexcept:\r\n print('Not found directory')<\/pre>\n<pre>Output :\r\nNot found directory<\/pre>\n<p>Here in this case if found, all contents of directory <code>'\/somedir\/logs\/'<\/code> will be deleted. If any of the files in directory has read only attributes then user can&#8217;t delete the file and exception i.e. PermissionError will be raised therefore we can&#8217;t delete any remaining required files.<\/p>\n<h3>shutil.rmtree() &amp; ignore_errors :<\/h3>\n<p>In previous scenario if we failed to delete any file, then we can&#8217;t delete further required files in the directory. Now, we can ignore the errors by passing <code>ignore_errors=True<\/code> in <code>shutil.rmtree()<\/code>.<\/p>\n<p>It will skip the file which raised the exception and then going forward it can delete all of the remaining files.<\/p>\n<p>Let there be a scenario where we can&#8217;t delete a file in log directory, then we can use the following syntax so that this exception can be ignored:<\/p>\n<pre>shutil.rmtree(dirPath, ignore_errors=True)<\/pre>\n<h3>Passing callbacks in shutil.rmtree() with onerror :<\/h3>\n<p>Instead of ignoring errors, there may be a case where we have to handle the errors.<\/p>\n<pre><u>Syntax : <\/u>\u00a0shutil.rmtree(path, ignore_errors=False, onerror=None)<\/pre>\n<p>In <code>onerror<\/code> parameter, callback function can be called to handle the errors<\/p>\n<pre>shutil.rmtree(dirPath, onerror=handleError)<\/pre>\n<p>The callable function passed must be callable like:<\/p>\n<pre>def handleError(func, path, exc_info):\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0pass<\/pre>\n<p>where,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>function :<\/strong> It is the function which raised exception.<\/li>\n<li><strong>path :<\/strong> The path that passed which raises the exception while removal.<\/li>\n<li><strong>excinfo :<\/strong> The exception information is returned<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now, if any exception is raised while deleting a file, then callback will handle the error. Then, <code>shutil.rmtree()<\/code> can continue deleting remaining files.<\/p>\n<p>Now let a case where we want to delete all the contents of a directory <code>'\/somediec\/logs'<\/code>, and there is somewhere a file in logs directory which shows permission issues, and we can&#8217;t delete all. So callback will be passed in oneerror parameter of that file.<\/p>\n<p>In the callback if it accesses issue, then we will change the file permission and then call calling function i.e. <code>rmtree()<\/code> with path of file. Then the file will be deleted and <code>rmtree()<\/code> will further delete remaining contents in the directory.<\/p>\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"python\">import os\r\nimport shutil\r\nimport stat\r\n\r\n#Error handling function will try to change permission and call calling function again\r\n\r\ndef handleError(func, path, exc_info):\r\n print('Handling Error for file ' , path)\r\n print(exc_info)\r\n\r\n# check that if the file is accessing the issue\r\nif not os.access(path, os.W_OK):\r\n print('helloWorld')\r\n # trying to change the permission of file\r\n os.chmod(path, stat.S_IWUSR)\r\n # Tring to call the calling function again\r\n func(path)<\/pre>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() in Python ? In this article, we will discuss about how we can delete an empty directory and also all contents of a directory including sub directories using shutil.rmtree(). Delete an empty directory using os.rmdir() : The os module of python provide a function i.e. os.rmdir(pathOfDir) which &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree()<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() - Python Programs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() - Python Programs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() in Python ? In this article, we will discuss about how we can delete an empty directory and also all contents of a directory including sub directories using shutil.rmtree(). Delete an empty directory using os.rmdir() : The os module of python provide a function i.e. os.rmdir(pathOfDir) which &hellip; Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() Read More &raquo;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Python Programs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/btechgeeks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-16T05:14:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-22T13:10:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@btech_geeks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@btech_geeks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Satyabrata Jena\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BTech Geeks\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/btechgeeks\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/btechgeeks\",\"https:\/\/in.pinterest.com\/btechgeek\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC9MlCqdJ3lKqz2p5114SDIg\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/btechgeeks\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/btech_geeks\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/BTechGeeks.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/BTechGeeks.png\",\"width\":350,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"BTech Geeks\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/\",\"name\":\"Python Programs\",\"description\":\"Python Programs with Examples, How To Guides on Python\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/\",\"name\":\"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() - Python Programs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-16T05:14:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-22T13:10:51+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree()\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f6d731bda7051ce3586f71299f391cd\"},\"headline\":\"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree()\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-16T05:14:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-22T13:10:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":465,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Python\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f6d731bda7051ce3586f71299f391cd\",\"name\":\"Satyabrata Jena\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1bf8033ec357d085f41815bee1625cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1bf8033ec357d085f41815bee1625cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Satyabrata Jena\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/author\/satyabrata\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() - Python Programs","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() - Python Programs","og_description":"How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() in Python ? In this article, we will discuss about how we can delete an empty directory and also all contents of a directory including sub directories using shutil.rmtree(). Delete an empty directory using os.rmdir() : The os module of python provide a function i.e. os.rmdir(pathOfDir) which &hellip; Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() Read More &raquo;","og_url":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/","og_site_name":"Python Programs","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/btechgeeks","article_published_time":"2021-05-16T05:14:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-22T13:10:51+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@btech_geeks","twitter_site":"@btech_geeks","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Satyabrata Jena","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#organization","name":"BTech Geeks","url":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/btechgeeks\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/btechgeeks","https:\/\/in.pinterest.com\/btechgeek\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC9MlCqdJ3lKqz2p5114SDIg","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/btechgeeks","https:\/\/twitter.com\/btech_geeks"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/BTechGeeks.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/BTechGeeks.png","width":350,"height":70,"caption":"BTech Geeks"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/","name":"Python Programs","description":"Python Programs with Examples, How To Guides on Python","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/","name":"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree() - Python Programs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-05-16T05:14:19+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-22T13:10:51+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree()"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f6d731bda7051ce3586f71299f391cd"},"headline":"Python : How to delete a directory recursively using shutil.rmtree()","datePublished":"2021-05-16T05:14:19+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-22T13:10:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#webpage"},"wordCount":465,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Python"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/python-programs.com\/python-how-to-delete-a-directory-recursively-using-shutil-rmtree\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0f6d731bda7051ce3586f71299f391cd","name":"Satyabrata Jena","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1bf8033ec357d085f41815bee1625cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1bf8033ec357d085f41815bee1625cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Satyabrata Jena"},"url":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/author\/satyabrata\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5670,"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5669\/revisions\/5670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/python-programs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}