Question

I want to implement this myself and I come up something like this:

/* DIR *opendir(const char *name);
 *
 * Open a directory stream to argv[1] and make sure
 * it's a readable and valid (directory) */
if ((dip = opendir(argv[1])) == NULL)
{
        perror("opendir");
        return 0;
}

printf("Directory stream is now open\n");

/*  struct dirent *readdir(DIR *dir);
 *
 * Read in the files from argv[1] and print */
while ((dit = readdir(dip)) != NULL)
{
        printf("\n%s", dit->d_name);
        remove(dit->d_name);
}

I am guessing I have to start delete things from the deepest level and then go up, but now it seems readdir does not give me that order.

Please help, thanks!

Answer 1

You have to recurse all the way down to the lower levels first, as in the following pseudo code:

def delDir (d):
    # Delete the directories by recursion, files straight away.

    for every item in d:
        if item is a directory:
            delDir (item)
        else:
            delete file item

    # Finally, remove the directory itself.

    remove directory d

That’s it really, this guarantees that all lower directories and files are deleted before you attempt to remove the parent.

---

Since item is likely to be just the current component of the directory, you may need to construct a full name using, for example, strcpy/strcat:

def delDir (dirName):
    def localBuff[enoughSpace]

    # Delete the directories by recursion, files straight away.

    dirHandle = dirOpen (dirName)
    itemName = dirnext (dirHandle)
    while itemName is valid:
        if itemName <> "." and itemName <> "..":
            strcpy dirName to localBuff
            strcat "/" to localBuff
            strcat itemName to localBuff

            if itemName is a directory:
                delDir (localBuff)
           else:
                delete file localBuff

        itemName = dirnext (dirHandle)

    dirClose (dirHandle)

    # Finally, remove the directory itself.

    remove directory dirName