`rmdir`

Removes a folder.

Category: Programming > Files and Folders

Syntax

rmdir(folder)

Removes an empty folder.

rmdir(folder, 's')

Removes the folder with all its files and subfolders.

[status, message] = rmdir(___)

Returns the outcome instead of raising an error.

Description

Without 's', a folder that still has content cannot be removed. The removal with 's' is permanent unless a recycle bin is in use, so check the folder name first. Without output arguments any failure is an error; with them the call returns false and a message.

Input arguments

folder: Folder to remove.
's': Option to remove the contents too.

Output arguments

status: true on success.
message: Text describing the failure, empty on success.

Example

Empty-only versus recursive removal

mkdir tmp/inner
writelines('x', 'tmp/inner/f.txt');
[ok, msg] = rmdir('tmp');
ok
rmdir('tmp', 's');
isfolder('tmp')

Output

ok = logical
   0
ans = logical
   0

Notes

MatLivre's rmdir returns at most two outputs, status and message.

rmdir