How to delete a long path in windows.
robocopy empty_dir base_nested_dir /purge
Example: If you have a folder path that's too long such as:
D:\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles\BackupFolder\Copy\MyFiles
follow these instructions to delete it.
- Create an empty folder, such as
C:\Users\Name\Desktop\temp. - Open a Command Prompt window.
- Type
robocopy C:\Users\Name\Desktop\temp D:\BackupFolder /purge
Note: If there are spaces in either path in Step 3, the path must be inclosed by quotation marks.
As to Q1)
Use subst to short-cirquit the paths:
subst Q: C:\very\long\path\created\by\eclipse
Q:
del *.*
As to Q2)
Long paths are less of a problem in other OSes, and there are Windows API functions that can deal with paths longer than 255 characters, so they just did it, I guess.
I had a problem similar to this with Eclipse: trying to import a project using Subclipse, it generated a deeply nested set of directories which I couldn't delete.
I did a couple of things, firstly I edited the directory names down to the shortest length possible (actually I think this was pointless). Secondly, I traversed the directory tree as deeply as possible and then cut and pasted the branch out (which makes it possible to delete the original branch), and then repeated the process.
@Charlie and @Tomalek's solutions look like they might be more elegant. I don't plan on repeating the experience to find out though.
7Zip is the ultimate solution if you are not comfortable with command-line.
- Open 7Zip File Manager
- Navigate to your file
- Shift-Delete your file
Cheers!