can not delete a file

George_George

Hello everyone, I am using the following program to delete all files in a specified directory. But when running, no files could be deleted, and the related error information is, failed with error 5 -- access denied. Anything wrong with the program? remove_non_empty_directory ("c:\\temp\\non_empty_dir\\*"); // ErrorExit implementation from MSDN // http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms680582.aspx int remove_non_empty_directory (const char* path) { WIN32_FIND_DATA FindFileData; HANDLE hFind; int rtn; hFind = FindFirstFile(path, &FindFileData); if (hFind == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) { FindClose(hFind); return -1; } else { // delete 1st file rtn = DeleteFile(&(FindFileData.cFileName)); if (0 == rtn) { ErrorExit (NULL); } // List all the other files in the directory and delete all files while (FindNextFile(hFind, &FindFileData) != 0) { rtn = DeleteFile(&(FindFileData.cFileName)); } FindClose(hFind); } return 0; } thanks in advance, George

Jonathan Darka

Do you have permissions to delete from that folder, have you tried deleting a file manually through explorer ?

Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net]

George_George

Sure Jonathan, I have the privilege. I am admin and I can manually delete such files. I think there should be something wrong with my program, but through debugging for almost an hour, I still can not find the reason. Any ideas? regards, George

Dominik Reichl

Try DeleteFile(FindFileData.cFileName); instead of DeleteFile(&(FindFileData.cFileName)); :rose:

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George_George

I have tried and the error is the same. Any further debug ideas? regards, George

Jonathan Darka

I think the problem is that the first file you will 'find' is the current folder '.', you will get an access denied if you try to delete this, so you need to exclude both '.' and '..' from your wildcard search, something like this (obviously could be optimised, this is just to show an example): Also, you could make it recursive if you wanted to delete sub folders too.

int remove_non_empty_directory(const char* path)
{
WIN32_FIND_DATA FindFileData;
int rtn;

HANDLE hFind = FindFirstFile(path, &FindFileData);
if (hFind == INVALID\_HANDLE\_VALUE)
{
	FindClose(hFind);
	return -1;
}
else
{
        bool bDelete = true;
        if((\_tcsicmp(FindFileData.cFileName, "..") == 0) || (\_tcsicmp(FindFileData.cFileName, ".") == 0))
            bDelete = false;

        if(bDelete) // delete 1st file
        {
	rtn = DeleteFile((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName);
            // .... original error handling code
        }

        // List all the other files in the directory and delete all files
    while (FindNextFile(hFind, &FindFileData) != 0)
        {
            bDelete = true;
            if((\_tcsicmp(FindFileData.cFileName, "..") == 0) || (\_tcsicmp(FindFileData.cFileName, ".") == 0))
                bDelete = false;

            if(bDelete)
	    rtn = DeleteFile((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName);

	FindClose(hFind);
}

return 0;

}

And change this code:

DeleteFile(&(FindFileData.cFileName));

to this:

DeleteFile((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName);

regards, -- modified at 7:09 Monday 30th July, 2007

Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net]

Jonathan Darka

George_George wrote:

Any further debug ideas?

See my last post regarding '.' and '..'

Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net]

SandipG

I think it happens because FindFile Handle i.e. hFind is open. I have faced similar issue with CFileFind.Try to delete after you close the handle.

George_George

Thanks Jonathan, I have tried and slightly modified your program to make it compile. :-) Now the error condition is, error number 2 -- system can not find specified file. I am confused since the file actually exists. I need to using absolute path other than relative path to delete the file? int remove_non_empty_directory(const char* path) { WIN32_FIND_DATA FindFileData; int rtn; HANDLE hFind = FindFirstFile(path, &FindFileData); int bDelete = 0; if (hFind == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) { FindClose(hFind); return -1; } else { if((_tcscmp((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName, "..") == 0) || (_tcscmp((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName, ".") == 0)) { bDelete = 0; } if(bDelete) // delete 1st file { rtn = DeleteFile((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName); // .... original error handling code } // List all the other files in the directory and delete all file while (FindNextFile(hFind, &FindFileData) != 0) { bDelete = 1; if((_tcscmp((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName, "..") == 0) || (_tcscmp((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName, ".") == 0)) { bDelete = 0; } if(bDelete) { rtn = DeleteFile((LPCSTR)FindFileData.cFileName); if (0 == rtn) { ErrorExit (NULL); } } } FindClose(hFind); } return 0; } regards, George

Jonathan Darka

which line is producing error 2, and what is the value of FindFileData.cFileName at that point ?

Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net]

Don Box

Hello George_George, I'll tell u the exact problem u r having and how to rectify it. Your Code:------------------------------------------------- int remove_non_empty_directory (const char* path) { WIN32_FIND_DATA FindFileData; HANDLE hFind; int rtn; hFind = FindFirstFile(path, &FindFileData); if (hFind == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) { FindClose(hFind); return -1; } else { // delete 1st file rtn = DeleteFile(&(FindFileData.cFileName)); `` if (0 == rtn) { ErrorExit (NULL); } // List all the other files in the directory and delete all files while (FindNextFile(hFind, &FindFileData) != 0) { rtn = DeleteFile(&(FindFileData.cFileName)); `} FindClose(hFind); }` `` ---------------------------------------------------------- The problem lies in the highlighted lines. FindFileData.cFileName contains only the FILE NAME, NOT PATH. So the problem. Rectify it by replacing the highlighted lines by DeleteFile(path);

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gvisgr8

Are you sure that those files are not read only. As once i wasalso facing the same problem but after checking out read only attribute. it was working fine...

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Bryster

Hi I was just looking at your problem and why not try someting completely different. You could create a batch file which deletes the files within a folder. 1. Create a new text file for writing to (say on your c:\) with the extension of ".BAT" 2. Write to that file the path of the directory you want to delete, fprintf(cfile,"del %s\*.*",pathname) 3. Close the file 4. Using the SPOOL command run the file. Just a quick solution to your problem. Bry.:-D

Jonathan Darka

George_George wrote:

I have tried and slightly modified your program to make it compile.

:-)

George_George wrote:

I need to using absolute path other than relative path to delete the file?

Yes, in this case you should. regards,

Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net]

Jonathan Darka

Don Box wrote:

Rectify it by replacing the highlighted lines by DeleteFile(path);

That won't work as he is most likely passing in just a folder name, or a folder name with a wildcard attached. He should take the original path (excluding wildcard) and then add the filename from FindFileData.cFileName and then Delete that. regards,

Jonathan Wilkes Darka[Xanya.net]

George_George

Relative file name. regards, George

George_George

Thanks Jonathan, I have tried that if I am using absolute path, it works! regards, George

George_George

Yes, they are the key points. regards, George

George_George

Hi SandipG, I have tried that it does not matter. regards, George

George_George

Thanks Don! It works! Cool! regards, George