FileSystemDirectoryEntry: removeRecursively() method

{{APIRef("File and Directory Entries API")}}{{Deprecated_Header}}{{Non-standard_Header}}

The {{domxref("FileSystemDirectoryEntry")}} interface's method removeRecursively() removes the directory as well as all of its content, hierarchically iterating over its entire subtree of descendant files and directories.

To remove a single file, or an empty directory, you can also use {{domxref("FileSystemEntry.remove()")}}.

Syntax

removeRecursively(successCallback)
removeRecursively(successCallback, errorCallback)

Parameters

• successCallback
  • : A function to call once the directory removal process has completed. The callback has no parameters.
• errorCallback {{optional_inline}}
  • : A function to be called if an error occurs while attempting to remove the directory subtree. Receives a {{domxref("DOMException")}} describing the error which occurred as input.

Return value

None ({{jsxref("undefined")}}).

Exceptions

If an error occurs and an errorCallback was specified, it gets called with a single parameter: a {{domxref("DOMException")}} object describing the error. The {{domxref("DOMException.code")}} specifies what type of error occurred, as follows:

• DOMException.INVALID_MODIFICATION_ERR
  • : An attempt was made to remove the root directory; this is not permitted.
• DOMException.NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR
  • : The file system's state doesn't permit modification.
• DOMException.NOT_FOUND_ERR
  • : The directory represented by the {{domxref("FileSystemDirectoryEntry")}} no longer exists.
• DOMException.NOT_READABLE_ERR
  • : The directory is not accessible; perhaps it's in use by another application or is locked at the operating system level.
• DOMException.SECURITY_ERR
  • : The directory could not be removed for security reasons. Possible reasons include:
    • The directory and/or its contents may not be safe to access from a Web application.
    • Too many file system calls are being made.
    • Other security concerns as raised by the user agent or the operating system.

[!NOTE] If you try to delete a directory which contains one or more files that can't be removed, or if an error occurs while deletion of a number of files is underway, some files may not be deleted. You should provide an errorCallback to watch for and handle this, perhaps by trying again.

Examples

directory.removeRecursively(
  () => {
    /* The directory was removed successfully */
  },
  () => {
    /* an error occurred while removing the directory */
  },
);

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• File and Directory Entries API
• {{domxref("FileSystemDirectoryEntry")}}
• {{domxref("FileSystemEntry.remove()")}}