Std::filesystem::remove,std::filesystem::remove_all (3) Linux Manual Page

std::filesystem::remove,std::filesystem::remove_all – std::filesystem::remove,std::filesystem::remove_all

Synopsis

Defined in header<filesystem>

    bool remove(const std::filesystem::path &p);
(1)(since C++ 17)

    bool remove(const std::filesystem::path &p, std::error_code &ec) noexcept;

std::uintmax_t remove_all(const std::filesystem::path &p);
(2)(since C++ 17)

    std::uintmax_t remove_all(const std::filesystem::path &p, std::error_code &ec);

1) The file or empty directory identified by the path p is deleted as if by the POSIX remove. Symlinks are not followed (symlink is removed, not its target)
2) Deletes the contents of p (if it is a directory) and the contents of all its subdirectories, recursively, then deletes p itself as if by repeatedly applying the POSIX remove. Symlinks are not followed (symlink is removed, not its target)

Parameters

p – path to delete
ec – out-parameter for error reporting in the non-throwing overload

Return value

1) true if the file was deleted, false if it did not exist. The overload that takes error_code& argument returns false on errors.
2) Returns the number of files and directories that were deleted (which may be zero if p did not exist to begin with). The overload that takes error_code& argument returns static_cast<std::uintmax_t>(-1) on error.

Exceptions

The overload that does not take a std::error_code& parameter throws filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with p as the first path argument and the OS error code as the error code argument. The overload taking a std::error_code& parameter sets it to the OS API error code if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur. Any overload not marked noexcept may throw std::bad_alloc if memory allocation fails.

Notes

On POSIX systems, this function typically calls unlink and rmdir as needed, on Windows RemoveDirectoryW and DeleteFileW.
Defect reports
The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.
DR Applied to Behavior as published Correct behavior
LWG_3014 C++17 error_code overload of remove_all marked noexcept but can allocate memory noexcept removed

Example

// Run this code

#include <iostream>

#include <cstdint>

#include <filesystem>

namespace fs = std::filesystem;

int main()

{
    fs::path dir = fs::temp_directory_path();
    fs::create_directories(dir / "abcdef/example");
    std::uintmax_t n = fs::remove_all(dir / "abcdef");
    std::cout << "Deleted " << n << " files or directories\n";
}

Possible output:

Deleted 2 files or directories

std::filesystem::remove,std::filesystem::remove_all (3) Linux Manual Page