del/readme.md

Delete files and directories

# del

> Delete files and directories using [globs](https://github.com/sindresorhus/globby#globbing-patterns)

Similar to [rimraf](https://github.com/isaacs/rimraf), but with a Promise API and support for multiple files and globbing. It also protects you against deleting the current working directory and above.

## Install

```sh
npm install del
```

## Usage

```js
import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

const deletedFilePaths = await deleteAsync(['temp/*.js', '!temp/unicorn.js']);
const deletedDirectoryPaths = await deleteAsync(['temp', 'public']);

console.log('Deleted files:\n', deletedFilePaths.join('\n'));
console.log('\n\n');
console.log('Deleted directories:\n', deletedDirectoryPaths.join('\n'));
```

## Beware

The glob pattern `**` matches all children and *the parent*.

So this won't work:

```js
deleteSync(['public/assets/**', '!public/assets/goat.png']);
```

You have to explicitly ignore the parent directories too:

```js
deleteSync(['public/assets/**', '!public/assets', '!public/assets/goat.png']);
```

To delete all subdirectories inside `public/`, you can do:

```js
deleteSync(['public/*/']);
```

Suggestions on how to improve this welcome!

## API

Note that glob patterns can only contain forward-slashes, not backward-slashes. Windows file paths can use backward-slashes as long as the path does not contain any glob-like characters, otherwise use `path.posix.join()` instead of `path.join()`.

### deleteAsync(patterns, options?)

Returns `Promise<string[]>` with the deleted paths.

### deleteSync(patterns, options?)

Returns `string[]` with the deleted paths.

#### patterns

Type: `string | string[]`

See the supported [glob patterns](https://github.com/sindresorhus/globby#globbing-patterns).

- [Pattern examples with expected matches](https://github.com/sindresorhus/multimatch/blob/main/test/test.js)
- [Quick globbing pattern overview](https://github.com/sindresorhus/multimatch#globbing-patterns)

#### options

Type: `object`

You can specify any of the [`globby` options](https://github.com/sindresorhus/globby#options) in addition to the below options. In contrast to the `globby` defaults, `expandDirectories`, `onlyFiles`, and `followSymbolicLinks` are `false` by default.

##### force

Type: `boolean`\
Default: `false`

Allow deleting the current working directory and outside.

##### dryRun

Type: `boolean`\
Default: `false`

See what would be deleted.

```js
import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

const deletedPaths = await deleteAsync(['temp/*.js'], {dryRun: true});

console.log('Files and directories that would be deleted:\n', deletedPaths.join('\n'));
```

##### dot

Type: `boolean`\
Default: `false`

Allow patterns to match files/folders that start with a period (`.`).

This option is passed through to [`fast-glob`](https://github.com/mrmlnc/fast-glob#dot).

Note that an explicit dot in a portion of the pattern will always match dot files.

**Example**

```
directory/
├── .editorconfig
└── package.json
```

```js
import {deleteSync} from 'del';

deleteSync('*', {dot: false});
//=> ['package.json']
deleteSync('*', {dot: true});
//=> ['.editorconfig', 'package.json']
```

##### concurrency

Type: `number`\
Default: `Infinity`\
Minimum: `1`

Concurrency limit.

##### onProgress

Type: `(progress: ProgressData) => void`

Called after each file or directory is deleted.

```js
import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

await deleteAsync(patterns, {
	onProgress: progress => {
	// …
}});
```

###### ProgressData

```js
{
	totalCount: number,
	deletedCount: number,
	percent: number,
	path?: string
}
```

- `percent` is a value between `0` and `1`
- `path` is the absolute path of the deleted file or directory. It will not be present if nothing was deleted.

## CLI

See [del-cli](https://github.com/sindresorhus/del-cli) for a CLI for this module and [trash-cli](https://github.com/sindresorhus/trash-cli) for a safe version that is suitable for running by hand.

## Related

- [make-dir](https://github.com/sindresorhus/make-dir) - Make a directory and its parents if needed
- [globby](https://github.com/sindresorhus/globby) - User-friendly glob matching