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FileSystemDirectoryEntry.removeRecursively

Obsolete
This feature is obsolete. Although it may still work in some browsers, its use is discouraged since it could be removed at any time. Try to avoid using it.

This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The FileSystemDirectoryEntry interface's method removeRecursively() removes the directory as well as all of its content, hierarchically iterating over its entire subtree of descendant files and directories.

To remove a single file, or an empty directory, you can also use FileSystemEntry.remove().

Syntax

FileSystemDirectoryEntry.removeRecursively(successCallback[, errorCallback]);

Parameters

successCallback: A function to call once the directory removal process has completed. The callback has no parameters.
errorCallback Optional: A function to be called if an error occurs while attempting to remove the directory subtree. Receives a FileError describing the error which occurred as input.

Return value

undefined.

Errors

If an error occurs and an errorCallback was specified, it gets called with a single parameter: a FileError object describing the error. The FileError.code specifies what type of error occurred, as follows:

FileError.INVALID_MODIFICATION_ERR

An attempt was made to remove the root directory; this is not permitted.

FileError.NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR

The file system's state doesn't permit modification.

FileError.NOT_FOUND_ERR

The directory represented by the FileSystemDirectoryEntry no longer exists.

FileError.NOT_READABLE_ERR

The directory is not accessible; perhaps it's in use by another application or is locked at the operating system level.

FileError.SECURITY_ERR

The directory could not be removed for security reasons. Possible reasons include:

The directory and/or its contents may not be safe to access from a Web application.
Too many file system calls are being made.
Other security concerns as raised by the user agent or the operating system.

If you try to delete a directory which contains one or more files that can't be removed, or if an error occurs while deletion of a number of files is underway, some files may not be deleted. You should provide an errorCallback to watch for and handle this, perhaps by trying again.

Example

directory.removeRecursively(function() {
  /* The directory was removed successfully */
}, function() {
  /* an error occurred while removing the directory */
});

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
File and Directory Entries API The definition of 'getDirectory()' in that specification.	Draft	Now removed from spec!

This API has no official W3C or WHATWG specification.

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari
Basic support	13	No	50 — 52 50 — 52 While the `removeRecursively()` method existed, it immediately called the error callback with `NS_ERROR_DOM_SECURITY_ERR`.	No	No	No

	Mobile
	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Edge Mobile	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	iOS Safari	Samsung Internet
Basic support	Yes	Yes	?	50 — 52 50 — 52 While the `removeRecursively()` method existed, it immediately called the error callback with `NS_ERROR_DOM_SECURITY_ERR`.	No	No	?

FileSystemDirectoryEntry.removeRecursively

Syntax

Parameters

Return value

Errors

Example

Specifications

Browser compatibilityUpdate compatibility data on GitHub

See also