Delete Task

Delete

Description

Deletes a single file, a specified directory and all its files and subdirectories, or a set of files specified by one or more FileSets. When specifying a set of files, empty directories are not removed by default. To remove empty directories, use the includeEmptyDirs attribute.

Parameters

Attribute	Description	Required
file	The file to delete.	At least one of the two, unless a `<fileset>` is specified.
dir	The directory to delete, including all its files and subdirectories.	At least one of the two, unless a `<fileset>` is specified.
verbose	Show the name of each deleted file ("true"/"false"). Default is "false" when omitted.	No
quiet	If the file does not exist, do not display a diagnostic message (unless Ant has been invoked with the `‑verbose` or `‑debug` switches) or modify the exit status to reflect an error. When set to "true", if a file or directory cannot be deleted, no error is reported. This setting emulates the `-f` option to the Unix rm command. Default is "false". Setting this to "true" implies setting `failonerror` to "false".	No
failonerror	Controls whether an error (such as a failure to delete a file) stops the build or is merely reported to the screen. Only relevant if `quiet` is "false". Default is "true".	No
includeEmptyDirs	Set to "true" to delete empty directories when using filesets. Default is "false".	No

Examples

  <delete file="/lib/ant.jar"/>

deletes the file /lib/ant.jar.

  <delete dir="lib"/>

deletes the lib directory, including all files and subdirectories of lib.

  <delete>
    <fileset dir="." includes="**/*.bak"/>
  </delete>

deletes all files with the extension .bak from the current directory and any subdirectories.

  <delete includeEmptyDirs="true" >
    <fileset dir="build" />
  </delete>

deletes all files and subdirectories of build, including build itself.