del — Delete Files#

What it is#

del (also erase) is a built-in cmd.exe command that permanently deletes one or more files from disk — bypassing the Recycle Bin entirely. It has been present since MS-DOS 1.0. Unlike rmdir, del removes only files, not directories; use rmdir /S to remove an entire folder tree. There is no undo: once deleted with del, files are gone unless a shadow copy or backup exists.

Availability#

del is built into cmd.exe on every Windows version. erase is an exact alias. In PowerShell use Remove-Item (aliased del, rm, ri).

del /?

Output:

Deletes one or more files.

DEL [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names
ERASE [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names

Syntax#

The target can be a filename, wildcard, or space-separated list of names. Paths containing spaces must be quoted.

del [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[:attributes]] target [target ...]

Output: (none on success; error message if file not found or access denied)

Essential options#

Deleting a single file#

The simplest form deletes one named file. The command is silent on success.

del report_draft.docx

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

rem Full path
del C:\Temp\installer.msi

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

rem Path with spaces — must quote
del "C:\Users\alicedev\My Documents\old notes.txt"

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Wildcard deletion#

Wildcards delete multiple files matching a pattern. When a wildcard matches more than one file, cmd.exe in interactive mode asks for confirmation (one prompt for the whole group, not per file). Use /Q to suppress the prompt.

rem Delete all .tmp files in the current folder
del *.tmp

Output:

C:\Temp\*, Are you sure (Y/N)? Y

rem Silent wildcard delete (scripts should always use /Q)
del /Q *.tmp

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

rem Delete all log files with a date in the name
del /Q app_2025*.log

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Recursive deletion#

/S extends the delete to matching files in all subdirectories. Combine with /Q for unattended use. The directory structure is left intact — only the matched files are removed.

rem Delete all .pyc files recursively
del /S /Q *.pyc

Output:

Deleted file - C:\Projects\myapp\__pycache__\main.cpython-312.pyc
Deleted file - C:\Projects\myapp\__pycache__\utils.cpython-312.pyc

rem Delete all .log files under a logs folder
del /S /Q C:\Logs\*.log

Output:

Deleted file - C:\Logs\app.log
Deleted file - C:\Logs\Archive\app.log

Force-deleting read-only files#

del fails silently on read-only files unless /F is specified. Combine with /Q for scripts.

rem Will fail silently if file is read-only
del locked.txt

rem Force deletion regardless of read-only attribute
del /F locked.txt

Output: (none — exits 0 on success with /F)

rem Force-delete all read-only .bak files recursively
del /F /S /Q *.bak

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Attribute-targeted deletion#

/A selects files by attribute flag — useful for cleaning hidden temp files or targeting only archived files.

rem Delete only hidden files in current folder
del /A:H /Q *

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

rem Delete files with archive bit set (post-backup cleanup)
del /A:A /Q C:\Exports\*.csv

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

rem Delete system files (use with care; requires elevation)
del /A:S /F /Q C:\Quarantine\*

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Deleting all files in a folder#

del * or del /Q /S * clears every file; combine with rmdir afterward to remove the directory itself if desired.

rem Clear all files in a temp folder (not the folder itself)
del /Q /F C:\Temp\*

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

rem Clear all files recursively, force read-only
del /Q /F /S C:\OldProject\*

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Common pitfalls#

1. del bypasses the Recycle Bin — files are gone immediately; use the Explorer Delete key or PowerShell with the Shell COM object if you want Recycle Bin behaviour.
2. del *.* in a directory deletes files but not the directory itself — use rmdir /S /Q to remove the whole tree.
3. Wildcards in interactive mode prompt once for the group — a single Y deletes all matched files; there is no per-file chance to review.
4. Read-only files silently survive — del readonly.txt exits 0 but leaves the file; add /F to actually remove it.
5. del without a path acts on the current directory — always verify cd output before running del *.* /Q.
6. /S scans all subdirectories — ensure your wildcard is specific enough before adding /S /Q.

Real-world recipes#

Clean all build artefacts before a fresh build#

del /S /Q /F *.pyc *.pyo
del /S /Q /F *.obj *.pdb *.ilk

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Delete files older than 30 days with forfiles#

forfiles /P C:\Logs /S /M *.log /D -30 /C "cmd /c del /Q @path"

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Wipe temp folder#

del /Q /F /S %TEMP%\*

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Prompt-safe delete in a batch script#

@echo off
echo About to delete all .tmp files in C:\Scratch
echo Press Ctrl+C to abort or any key to continue...
pause > NUL
del /Q /F C:\Scratch\*.tmp
echo Done.

Output:

About to delete all .tmp files in C:\Scratch
Press Ctrl+C to abort or any key to continue...
Done.

erase — the alias#

erase is exactly the same command as del. There is no functional difference; the alias exists for MS-DOS 1.0 compatibility when both ERASE (the IBM PC-DOS spelling) and DEL (the Microsoft preference) were shipped. Scripts may use either, but del is by far the more common form in modern documentation.

erase /Q C:\Temp\*.tmp

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Wildcards and pattern semantics#

del uses the legacy DOS wildcard engine inherited by cmd.exe. * matches any sequence including the empty string; ? matches exactly one character. Two crucial quirks to remember: *.* historically meant “files with any extension” but on modern Windows it matches all files including those without an extension, and a single * is equivalent to *.*. Also, pattern matching considers both the long filename and the legacy 8.3 short name, so del *.htm may unexpectedly delete *.html files because their 8.3 alias ends in .HTM.

rem * and *.* both match every file
del *
del *.*

Output:

C:\Temp\*, Are you sure (Y/N)?

rem 8.3 surprise: deletes both report.htm AND report.html
dir /B
del *.htm
dir /B

Output:

report.htm
report.html
notes.txt

notes.txt

rem Disable 8.3 matching to avoid the surprise (PowerShell or attrib /L; see fsutil)
fsutil 8dot3name set 1

Output:

The registry state is now: 1 (Disable 8dot3 name creation on all volumes).

Exit codes and error behaviour#

del returns 0 even when no files matched the pattern — which differs from most Unix utilities. To detect “did anything actually get deleted?” use dir to check beforehand or capture output. Errors during deletion (access denied, file in use) print a message but typically still return 0 unless the entire invocation failed.

rem No matches — exits 0 with "Could Not Find" message
del C:\Temp\does_not_exist*.tmp
echo Exit code: %ERRORLEVEL%

Output:

Could Not Find C:\Temp\does_not_exist*.tmp
Exit code: 0

rem Explicit check before delete
if exist C:\Temp\*.tmp (del /Q /F C:\Temp\*.tmp) else (echo Nothing to delete)

Output:

Nothing to delete

Recycle Bin behaviour and recovery#

del, erase, and rmdir all bypass the Windows Recycle Bin completely. Files removed with these commands are not in any user-accessible trash and recovering them requires forensic tools, shadow copies (vssadmin list shadows), or File History snapshots. PowerShell’s Remove-Item also bypasses the Recycle Bin by default. To delete to the Recycle Bin from a script, invoke the Shell COM object.

# Delete-to-recycle-bin via Shell COM (closest "safe delete")
$file = "C:\Temp\important.txt"
$shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$item = $shell.Namespace((Split-Path $file)).ParseName((Split-Path $file -Leaf))
$item.InvokeVerb("delete")

Output: (none — file goes to Recycle Bin)

# The Recycle module from PSGallery exposes Remove-ItemSafely
Install-Module -Name Recycle -Scope CurrentUser
Remove-ItemSafely C:\Temp\important.txt

Output: (none — file recyclable from Bin)

PowerShell equivalents#

Remove-Item (aliases del, erase, rm, ri, rmdir, rd) is the PowerShell native. It is dramatically more flexible than del: pipeline input, -Recurse, -Force, -Include/-Exclude, -WhatIf, -Confirm, -Filter, and provider-aware behaviour for registry, certificate, and other non-filesystem stores. PowerShell’s del is not the cmd builtin — it is Remove-Item with PowerShell semantics, which means flags like /Q and /F do nothing in PowerShell.

# Single file
Remove-Item C:\Temp\report.docx

Output: (none — silent success)

# Force removal of read-only file (equivalent of del /F)
Remove-Item C:\Temp\locked.txt -Force

Output: (none — silent success)

# Wildcard
Remove-Item C:\Logs\*.log

Output: (none — silent success)

# Recursive across subdirectories (equivalent of del /S)
Get-ChildItem C:\Projects\myapp -Recurse -Filter *.pyc | Remove-Item -Force

Output: (none — silent success)

# Hidden files only
Get-ChildItem C:\Temp -Hidden -File | Remove-Item -Force

Output: (none — silent success)

# Files older than 30 days
$cutoff = (Get-Date).AddDays(-30)
Get-ChildItem C:\Logs -File |
    Where-Object LastWriteTime -lt $cutoff |
    Remove-Item -Force

Output: (none — silent success)

# Dry run with -WhatIf before committing
Remove-Item C:\Temp\* -Recurse -Force -WhatIf

Output:

What if: Performing the operation "Remove File" on target "C:\Temp\a.txt".
What if: Performing the operation "Remove File" on target "C:\Temp\b.tmp".

# Interactive per-item confirmation
Remove-Item C:\Temp\*.tmp -Confirm

Output:

Confirm
Are you sure you want to perform this action?
Performing the operation "Remove File" on target "C:\Temp\a.tmp".
[Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"):

CMD vs PowerShell vs bash comparison#

Long path support#

del and del /S honour LongPathsEnabled on Windows 10 1607+ but the implementation is uneven — some inner code paths still hit MAX_PATH. For deeply nested trees, PowerShell’s Remove-Item -LiteralPath '\\?\C:\very\long\path' or robocopy /MIR from an empty source are more reliable than del /S.

rem When del /S fails on long paths
robocopy emptydir C:\too\long\path /MIR /R:1 /W:1 /NFL /NDL /NJH /NJS
rmdir C:\too\long\path

Output:

   Files :       500         0         0         0         0       500

Common pitfalls (continued)#

7. 8.3 short-name aliases match unexpectedly — del *.htm may delete *.html files. Disable 8.3 generation or use for /R with a regex pre-filter.
8. del *.* /S from drive root is catastrophic — accidentally running this from C:\ removes most user files. Always verify %CD% and consider set "RM_GUARD=1" style trip-wires.
9. del exits 0 even when nothing was deleted — wrap with if exist checks or count results with dir /B if the script must know whether anything happened.
10. System file deletion needs elevation — del /A:S /F /Q C:\Windows\Temp\* will fail without an admin prompt. Use runas or an elevated cmd.
11. OneDrive and cloud sync — files on a OneDrive cloud-only placeholder are downloaded before deletion, which can take time and trigger reflow events. Disable sync first for bulk deletes.
12. Junctions and symlinks — del on a symlink-to-file removes the link, not the target. del /S does NOT recurse through junctions to delete target contents (good), but Remove-Item -Recurse in older PowerShell versions did (use 7+).

Real-world recipes (continued)#

Atomic “trash” workaround using move#

If you cannot afford permanent deletion, move files to a date-stamped trash folder and prune the trash periodically. This gives you an undo window.

@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions
set TRASH=C:\Trash\%DATE:~-4,4%%DATE:~-10,2%%DATE:~-7,2%
if not exist "%TRASH%" mkdir "%TRASH%"
move /Y "%~1" "%TRASH%\"
endlocal

Output: (none — file moved to dated trash folder)

Delete only files that haven’t been accessed in 90 days#

forfiles /P C:\Cache /S /M *.* /D -90 /C "cmd /c if @isdir==FALSE del /Q @path"

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Selective purge with size threshold#

rem Find and delete files over 100MB
for /R C:\Downloads %f in (*.iso *.zip) do (
    for /F %s in ('powershell -NoProfile -Command "(Get-Item '%f').Length"') do (
        if %s GTR 104857600 del /F /Q "%f"
    )
)

Output: (none — exits 0 on success)

Wipe a directory recursively, leaving structure intact#

rem Empty all files but keep folder hierarchy
del /Q /F /S C:\Scratch\*

Output:

Deleted file - C:\Scratch\a.txt
Deleted file - C:\Scratch\sub\b.txt

PowerShell: parallel delete with throttling (PS7+)#

Get-ChildItem C:\Logs -Recurse -File -Filter *.log |
    ForEach-Object -Parallel { Remove-Item $_ -Force } -ThrottleLimit 8

Output: (none — silent success)

Audit-friendly delete with log file#

@echo off
set LOG=C:\Logs\del_audit_%DATE:~-4,4%%DATE:~-10,2%%DATE:~-7,2%.log
dir /B /S C:\Scratch\*.tmp > "%LOG%"
del /Q /F /S C:\Scratch\*.tmp >> "%LOG%" 2>&1
echo Audit log: %LOG%

Output:

Audit log: C:\Logs\del_audit_20260525.log

Sources#

References consulted while writing this article. Links open in a new tab.

• Microsoft Learn — del command reference — Authoritative flag list and parameter semantics used to build the Essential options table.
• SS64 — del — Cross-version comparison and historical syntax notes.

See also#

• rmdir / rd — remove empty or whole directory trees; complements del.
• erase — the alias of del.
• attrib — clear read-only/hidden/system flags before deleting protected files.
• forfiles — date-based file selection often paired with del.
• robocopy /MOV — move-then-delete with retry semantics, safer than del for unstable storage.
• PowerShell Remove-Item, Remove-ItemSafely — flexible deletion with optional Recycle Bin support.
• Linux rm, find ... -delete — Unix equivalents.