Hey i need something that can delete folder a folder with files that are in it. so rmdir won’t work i don’t think.
Are you scripting it or using terminal?
And specifically, do you want to delete just a folder and preserve it’s contents somewhere, or something else?
Delete a folder that contains files. It’s for an application 
I’d prefer to not open Terminal; but can use shell scripts "
do shell script
Delete a folder that contains files. It’s for an application I’d prefer to not open Terminal; but can use shell scripts "
do shell script
What’s the matter with plain vanilla AppleScript? This puts all the files and the folder in the trash – my preferred approach so I can recover from an “Oh No!” experience.
set tFolder to choose folder with prompt "Choose a folder to delete, including contents"
tell application "Finder"
delete (files of tFolder)
delete tFolder
end tell
If you prefer a shorter version:
tell application "Finder" to delete (choose folder with prompt "Choose a folder to delete, including contents")
Ok thanks How do i do it like
tell application "Finder" to delete POSIX path of "/Applications/Utilities"
Ofcourse i wouldn’t delete Utilities folder, but that’s just example how would i go by that? i currently get an error.
tell application "Finder" to delete ((POSIX file "/Applications/Utilities") as alias)
HA i kinda figured it was something like that… Thanks!
Any ideas why this doesn’t work?
property folderOne : "Junk Folder"
set tFolder to alias "Media 1TB:My Files:" & folderOne & ""
tell application "Finder"
delete (files of tFolder)
-- delete tFolder
end tell
But yet this does
set tFolder to alias "Media 1TB:My Files:Junk Folder"
tell application "Finder"
delete (files of tFolder)
-- delete tFolder
end tell
Also on another note I’m not sure if using alias is the best approach, since the path should be what sticks not the location if I move it (if I understand alias correctly?). I couldn’t get a posix path to work for me using a property or the direct path as in the second example.
I am trying to make a script that I can update every 4 months quickly by changing property values at the top of the script.
Hi. Attempting to concatenate something in alias form to a string results in list items”the alias and the text; you could just use a string path instead of an alias, then use the folder specifier in the delete line.
delete (files of folder tFolder)
This doesn’t seem to work either, what am I doing wrong? I have tried POSIX path, applescript paths and other paths formats I could find on line to no avail.
property folderOne : "Junk Folder"
set tFolder to POSIX file path of "/Applications/Delete/" & folderOne & ""
tell application "Finder"
delete (files of tFolder)
-- delete tFolder
end tell
Finder doesn’t know anything about POSIX paths. Use a colon-delimited string path, as in your initial example, just leave out the alias bit. & “” adds an empty text (nothing) to the end of your statement, and isn’t needed.
property folderOne : "Junk Folder"
tell application "Finder"
delete (files of folder ("Media 1TB:My Files:" & folderOne))
end
Oh boy, thank you, that works like a charm!
For what it’s worth I was struggling to get two properties in a single path to work properly but after many failed attempts got it to work.
property driveName : "Macintosh HD"
property folderOne : "Utilities"
property folderTwo : "Trash Folder"
property itemOne : "Delete.txt"
tell application "Finder"
open document file ("" & driveName & ":Applications:" & folderOne & ":" & folderTwo & ":" & itemOne & ":")
end tell
(*
tell application "Finder"
delete (files of folder ("" & driveName & ":Applications:" & folderOne & ":" & folderTwo & ":"))
delete (folders of folder ("" & driveName & ":Applications:" & folderOne & ":" & folderTwo & ":"))
end tell
*)
This way you can have multiple property’s defined for folders in the path that can be updated at the top of the script, as well as a property for a file of course that you can open.
In this case “Macintosh HD: Applications:Utilities:Trash Folder:Delete.txt”
I couldn’t figure out a way to combine delete “files and folders of folder” as a single statement hence the two listings.
files and folders = items
or
tell application "Finder"
items of folder "whatever" whose class is folder or class is document file
end tell
Thanks Stefan