Remove-Item

Syntax

Remove-Item
      [-Path] <String[]>
      [-Filter <String>]
      [-Include <String[]>]
      [-Exclude <String[]>]
      [-Recurse]
      [-Force]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-WhatIf]
      [-Confirm]
      [-UseTransaction]
      [-Stream <String[]>]
      [<CommonParameters>]

Remove-Item
      -LiteralPath <String[]>
      [-Filter <String>]
      [-Include <String[]>]
      [-Exclude <String[]>]
      [-Recurse]
      [-Force]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-WhatIf]
      [-Confirm]
      [-UseTransaction]
      [-Stream <String[]>]
      [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Remove-Item cmdlet deletes one or more items. Because it is supported by many providers, it can delete many different types of items, including files, folders, registry keys, variables, aliases, and functions.

Examples

Example 1: Delete files that have any file name extension

PS C:\> Remove-Item C:\Test\*.*

This command deletes all of the files that have names that include a dot (.) from the C:\Test folder. Because the command specifies a dot, the command does not delete folders or files that have no file name extension.

Example 2: Delete some of the document files in a folder

PS C:\> Remove-Item * -Include *.doc -Exclude *1*

This command deletes from the current folder all files that have a .doc file name extension and a name that does not include 1. It uses the wildcard character ( ) to specify the contents of the current folder. It uses the *Include and Exclude parameters to specify the files to delete.

Example 3: Delete hidden, read-only files

PS C:\> Remove-Item -Path C:\Test\hidden-RO-file.txt -Force

This command deletes a file that is both hidden and read-only. It uses the Path parameter to specify the file. It uses the Force parameter to delete it. Without Force , you cannot delete read-only or hidden files.

Example 4: Delete files in subfolders recursively

PS C:\> Get-ChildItem * -Include *.csv -Recurse | Remove-Item

This command deletes all of the CSV files in the current folder and all subfolder recursively.

Because the Recurse parameter in Remove-Item has a known issue, the command in this example uses Get-ChildItem to get the desired files, and then uses the pipeline operator to pass them to Remove-Item .

In the Get-ChildItem command, Path has a value of , which represents the contents of the current folder. It uses *Include to specify the CSV file type, and it uses Recurse to make the retrieval recursive.

If you try to specify the file type the path, such as -Path *.csv , the cmdlet interprets the subject of the search to be a file that has no child items, and Recurse fails.

Example 5: Delete subkeys recursively

PS C:\> Remove-Item hklm:\software\mycompany\OldApp -Recurse

This command deletes the OldApp registry key and all its subkeys and values. It uses Remove-Item to remove the key. The path is specified, but the optional parameter name ( Path ) is omitted.

The Recurse parameter deletes all of the contents of the OldApp key recursively. If the key contains subkeys and you omit the Recurse parameter, you are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the contents of the key.

Example 6 - Deleting files with special characters

The following example shows how to delete files that contain special characters like brackets or parentheses.

PS C:\temp\Downloads> Get-ChildItem



    Directory: C:\temp\Downloads



Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name

----                -------------         ------ ----

-a----         6/1/2018  12:19 PM           1362 myFile.txt

-a----         6/1/2018  12:30 PM           1132 myFile[1].txt

-a----         6/1/2018  12:19 PM           1283 myFile[2].txt

-a----         6/1/2018  12:19 PM           1432 myFile[3].txt



PS C:\temp\Downloads> Get-ChildItem | Where-Object Name -Like '*`[*'



    Directory: C:\temp\Downloads



Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name

----                -------------         ------ ----

-a----         6/1/2018  12:30 PM           1132 myFile[1].txt

-a----         6/1/2018  12:19 PM           1283 myFile[2].txt

-a----         6/1/2018  12:19 PM           1432 myFile[3].txt



PS C:\temp\Downloads> Get-ChildItem | Where-Object Name -Like '*`[*' | ForEach-Object { Remove-Item -LiteralPath $_.Name }

PS C:\temp\Downloads> Get-ChildItem



    Directory: C:\temp\Downloads



Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name

----                -------------         ------ ----

-a----         6/1/2018  12:19 PM           1362 myFile.txt

Required Parameters

Optional Parameters

Inputs

System.String

You can pipe a string that contains a path, but not a literal path, to this cmdlet.

Outputs

None

This cmdlet does not return any output.

Notes

• You can also refer to Remove-Item by any of its built-in aliases: del , erase , rmdir , rd , ri , or rm . For more information, see about_Aliases.
• Remove-Item cmdlet is designed to work with the data exposed by any provider. To list the providers available in your session, type Get-PsProvider . For more information, see about_Providers.

Related Links

• Clear-Item
• Copy-Item
• Get-Item
• Invoke-Item
• Move-Item
• New-Item
• Remove-ItemProperty
• Rename-Item
• Set-Item