del

Delete files and directories using globs

Similar to rimraf, but with a Promise API and support for multiple files and globbing. It also protects you against deleting the current working directory and above.

Install

npm install del

Usage

import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

const deletedFilePaths = await deleteAsync(['temp/*.js', '!temp/unicorn.js']);
const deletedDirectoryPaths = await deleteAsync(['temp', 'public']);

console.log('Deleted files:\n', deletedFilePaths.join('\n'));
console.log('\n\n');
console.log('Deleted directories:\n', deletedDirectoryPaths.join('\n'));

Beware

The glob pattern ** matches all children and the parent.
So this won't work:

deleteSync(['public/assets/**', '!public/assets/goat.png']);

You have to explicitly ignore the parent directories too:

deleteSync(['public/assets/**', '!public/assets', '!public/assets/goat.png']);

To delete all subdirectories inside public/, you can do:

deleteSync(['public/*/']);

Suggestions on how to improve this welcome!

API

Note that glob patterns can only contain forward-slashes, not backward-slashes. Windows file paths can use backward-slashes as long as the path does not contain any glob-like characters, otherwise use path.posix.join() instead of path.join().

deleteAsync(patterns, options?)

Returns Promise<string[]> with the deleted paths.

deleteSync(patterns, options?)

Returns string[] with the deleted paths.

patterns

Type: string | string[]
See the supported glob patterns.

• Pattern examples with expected matches
• Quick globbing pattern overview

options

Type: object
You can specify any of the globby options in addition to the below options. In contrast to the globby defaults, expandDirectories, onlyFiles, and followSymbolicLinks are false by default.

force

Type: boolean\ Default: false
Allow deleting the current working directory and outside.

dryRun

Type: boolean\ Default: false
See what would be deleted.

import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

const deletedPaths = await deleteAsync(['temp/*.js'], {dryRun: true});

console.log('Files and directories that would be deleted:\n', deletedPaths.join('\n'));

dot

Type: boolean\ Default: false
Allow patterns to match files/folders that start with a period (.).
This option is passed through to fast-glob.
Note that an explicit dot in a portion of the pattern will always match dot files.
Example

directory/
├── .editorconfig
└── package.json

import {deleteSync} from 'del';

deleteSync('*', {dot: false});
//=> ['package.json']
deleteSync('*', {dot: true});
//=> ['.editorconfig', 'package.json']

concurrency

Type: number\ Default: Infinity\ Minimum: 1
Concurrency limit.

onProgress

Type: (progress: ProgressData) => void
Called after each file or directory is deleted.

import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

await deleteAsync(patterns, {
	onProgress: progress => {
	// …
}});

ProgressData

{
	totalCount: number,
	deletedCount: number,
	percent: number,
	path?: string
}

• percent is a value between 0 and 1
• path is the absolute path of the deleted file or directory. It will not be present if nothing was deleted.

CLI

See del-cli for a CLI for this module and trash-cli for a safe version that is suitable for running by hand.

del for enterprise

Available as part of the Tidelift Subscription.
The maintainers of del and thousands of other packages are working with Tidelift to deliver commercial support and maintenance for the open source dependencies you use to build your applications. Save time, reduce risk, and improve code health, while paying the maintainers of the exact dependencies you use. Learn more.

Related

• make-dir - Make a directory and its parents if needed
• globby - User-friendly glob matching