Delete folder if it exists in PowerShell

Question

In my PowerShell script I'm trying to delete a folder, but only if it exists:

if (Test-Path $folder) { Remove-Item $folder -Recurse; }

I find myself repeating this combination of cmdlets quite a few times, and wished I had something like this:

# Pseudo code:
Remove-Item $folder -Recurse -IgnoreNonExistentPaths

Is there a way to do something like that? A different command, or an option I've missed from the Remove-Item documentation perhaps? Or is the only way to DRY out this bit of code to write my own cmdlet that combines Test-Path and Remove-Item?

Answer 1

I assume you're just trying to avoid the error message in case it doesn't exist.

What if you just ignore it:

Remove-Item $folder -Recurse -ErrorAction Ignore

If that's not what you want, I would recommend writing your own function:

function Remove-ItemSafely {
[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true)]
param(
    [Parameter(
        Mandatory=$true,
        ValueFromPipeline=$true,
        ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true
    )]
    [String[]]
    $Path ,

    [Switch]
    $Recurse
)

    Process {
        foreach($p in $Path) {
            if(Test-Path $p) {
                Remove-Item $p -Recurse:$Recurse -WhatIf:$WhatIfPreference
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

It is better to use pipeline syntax. If there are no files, then nothing will happen:

Get-ChildItem $folder -Recurse | Remove-Item

Answer 3

This will delete an empty folder as well and still propagates errors if files cannot be deleted

Get-childItem .idea\caches -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue  | Remove-Item -Recurse

The most correct option for exceptions would be the if (test-path $p) { rm $p } version