Removing a non empty directory programmatically in C or C++

Question

How to delete a non empty directory in C or C++? Is there any function? rmdir only deletes empty directory. Please provide a way without using any external library.

Answer 1

If you are using a POSIX compliant OS, you could use nftw() for file tree traversal and remove (removes files or directories). If you are in C++ and your project uses boost, it is not a bad idea to use the Boost.Filesystem as suggested by Manuel.

In the code example below I decided not to traverse symbolic links and mount points (just to avoid a grand removal:) ):

#include 
#include 
#include 

static int rmFiles(const char *pathname, const struct stat *sbuf, int type, struct FTW *ftwb)
{
    if(remove(pathname) < 0)
    {
        perror("ERROR: remove");
        return -1;
    }
    return 0;
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    if (argc != 2)
    {
        fprintf(stderr,"usage: %s path\n",argv[0]);
        exit(1);
    }

    // Delete the directory and its contents by traversing the tree in reverse order, without crossing mount boundaries and symbolic links

    if (nftw(argv[1], rmFiles,10, FTW_DEPTH|FTW_MOUNT|FTW_PHYS) < 0)
    {
        perror("ERROR: ntfw");
        exit(1);
    }

    return 0;
}