How to recursively delete FTP directory?

Question

I want to delete directory (including all files and subfolders in it) on the FTP server using Rebex FTP.

Answer 1

In Release 2012 R1 the multi-file Delete() method was introduced. It can be used as follows:

Ftp client = new Ftp();
client.Connect(...);
client.Login(...);

client.Delete("remote_directory", Rebex.IO.TraversalMode.Recursive);

Comments

Same method for recursive delete is available in both Rebex FTP/SSL (http://www.rebex.net/ftp-ssl.net) and Rebex SFTP (http://www.rebex.net/sftp.net)

Answer 2

Try the following code, but be careful – symlinks on Unix-like systems can make this quite problematic. You can encounter folder which is in fact symlink pointing to another directory outside original folder. In such case you may delete more than you wanted.

public static void DeleteDirectory(Ftp ftp, string remotePath)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Deleting directory: '{0}'",remotePath);

    // change the directory
    ftp.ChangeDirectory(remotePath);

    // delete all files from the remotePath directory
    FtpList files = ftp.GetList();
    for (int i = 0; i < files.Count; i++)
    {
        if (files[i].IsFile)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Deleting file: '{0}'", files[i].Name);

            ftp.DeleteFile(files[i].Name);
        }
    }

    // delete all subdirectories in the remotePath directory
    for (int i = 0; i < files.Count; i++)
    {
        if (files[i].IsDirectory)
            DeleteDirectory(ftp, files[i].Name);
    }

    // delete this directory
    ftp.ChangeDirectory("..");
    ftp.RemoveDirectory(remotePath);
}

Comments

Is there a VB.Net version of the above code available? I tried converting but I cannot get it to delete all folders and files.

---

@Duncan: try following answer: http://forum.rebex.net/questions/12/how-to-recursively-delete-ftp-directory/691#691

Answer 3

VB.NET version of previous answer

Public Sub DeleteDirectory(ByVal ftp As Ftp, ByVal remotePath As String)

Console.WriteLine("Deleting directory: '{0}'", remotePath)

''# change the directory
  ftp.ChangeDirectory(remotePath)

''# delete all files from the remotePath directory
  Dim files As FtpList = ftp.GetList()
  Dim i As Integer
  For i = 0 To files.Count - 1

If (files.Item(i).IsFile) Then
      Console.WriteLine("Deleting file: '{0}'", files.Item(i).Name)

ftp.DeleteFile(files.Item(i).Name)
    End If
  Next i

''# delete all subdirectories in the remotePath directory
  For i = 0 To files.Count - 1

If (files.Item(i).IsDirectory) Then
      DeleteDirectory(ftp, files.Item(i).Name)
    End If
  Next i

''# delete this directory
  ftp.ChangeDirectory("..")
  ftp.RemoveDirectory(remotePath)
End Sub

You can test it with following code:

Sub Main()
  Dim ftp As New Ftp()
  ftp.Connect("ftpsite")
  ftp.Login("username", "password")

Dim homeDir As String = "/incoming"
  ftp.ChangeDirectory(homeDir)

''# create a directory structure
  CreateDirIfNotExists(ftp, "a")
  CreateFilIfNotExists(ftp, "a/a.txt")
  CreateFilIfNotExists(ftp, "a/a2.txt")
  CreateDirIfNotExists(ftp, "a/aa")
  CreateDirIfNotExists(ftp, "a/b")
  CreateDirIfNotExists(ftp, "a/b/bb")
  CreateFilIfNotExists(ftp, "a/b/bb/file1.txt")
  CreateFilIfNotExists(ftp, "a/b/bb/file2.txt")
  CreateFilIfNotExists(ftp, "a/b/bb/file3.txt")
  CreateDirIfNotExists(ftp, "a/b/bb/bbb")
  CreateDirIfNotExists(ftp, "a/b/abc")

Console.WriteLine("------------")
  ''# delete recursive
  DeleteDirectory(ftp, "a")

ftp.Disconnect()

End Sub

Public Sub CreateFilIfNotExists(ByVal ftp As Ftp, ByVal remotepath As String)

If (Not ftp.FileExists(remotepath)) Then
    Dim ms As New MemoryStream()
    ms.WriteByte(32)
    ms.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin)
    ftp.PutFile(ms, remotepath)
    Console.WriteLine("Created file " + remotepath)
  Else
    Console.WriteLine("File creation skipped. Already exists. " + remotepath)
  End If
End Sub

Public Sub CreateDirIfNotExists(ByVal ftp As Ftp, ByVal remotepath As String)
  If (Not ftp.DirectoryExists(remotepath)) Then
    Console.WriteLine("Creating directory " + remotepath)
    ftp.CreateDirectory(remotepath)
  Else
    Console.WriteLine("Directory creation skipped. Already exists. " + remotepath)
  End If
End Sub

EDIT: Fixed loop boundaries and added test code.

Comments

Thanks Duncan. I've edited my answer and fixed loop boundaries as suggested. I've also added test code.