Deleting all the files in the iPhone sandbox (documents folder)?

Question

Is there an easy way to delete all the files(images) I saved in the documents folder of the app?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4792663/remote-wipe-of-application-data-in-ios this is a similar question assuming he wants to delete everything in the documents folder, but no solution yet — Jinah Adam, Jan 25 '11 at 12:12

score 95 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 09 '12 at 15:21

95

NSFileManager *fileMgr = [[[NSFileManager alloc] init] autorelease];
NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *directoryContents = [fileMgr contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:documentsDirectory error:&error];
if (error == nil) {
    for (NSString *path in directoryContents) {
        NSString *fullPath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:path];
        BOOL removeSuccess = [fileMgr removeItemAtPath:fullPath error:&error];
        if (!removeSuccess) {
            // Error handling
            ...
        }
    }
} else {
    // Error handling
    ...
}

edited Aug 09 '12 at 15:21

pablasso

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answered Jan 25 '11 at 12:17

Ole Begemann

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1

it worked for the most part. but it turns out it removeItemAtPath requires full file path. so i used this NSString *myFilePath = [documentsDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:path]; thanks. – Jinah Adam Jan 25 '11 at 12:43
1

That's right, Jinah. My error. I am gonna correct the code above. – Ole Begemann Jan 25 '11 at 12:45
2

If this works, it would be nice to remove the `Untested code:` comment. Thanks – Warpspace Feb 09 '12 at 08:58
I get an EXC_BAD_ACCESS every time I execute this. But it deletes the contents of my sand box though. How do I prevent the error? Any ideas? – acecapades Aug 10 '12 at 07:50
1

I got documentsDirectory as undeclared Identifier. using NSDocumentDirectory also does not work in its place. It says, incompatible integer to pointer conversion. – Ankit Tanna Aug 21 '13 at 08:07
What is documentsDirectory? – Dog Sep 09 '15 at 15:41
@Wonder Dog - Well, just write NSString *documentsDirectory = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) firstObject]; – Dog Sep 09 '15 at 15:43

score 15 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 20 '13 at 07:57

Code did not work with IOS 7 and Xcode 5 so edited to work with my app. Big credits to @Ole Begemann and @pablasso.

-(void)EmptySandbox
{
    NSFileManager *fileMgr = [[NSFileManager alloc] init];
    NSError *error = nil;
    NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
    NSArray *files = [fileMgr contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:documentsDirectory error:nil];

    while (files.count > 0) {
        NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
        NSArray *directoryContents = [fileMgr contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:documentsDirectory error:&error];
        if (error == nil) {
            for (NSString *path in directoryContents) {
                NSString *fullPath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:path];
                BOOL removeSuccess = [fileMgr removeItemAtPath:fullPath error:&error];
                files = [fileMgr contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:documentsDirectory error:nil];
                if (!removeSuccess) {
                    // Error
                }
            }
        } else {
            // Error
        }
    }
}

If you're using CoreData, just note this will delete your Model also — BenB, Mar 20 '14 at 23:35
Thank you, this code works like a charm. I'm a newbie and i happen to overwrite the stored archive NSMutableArray with NSMutableDictionary on the iPad. Save my life — chrizonline, Oct 22 '14 at 04:23

Tiberiu Oprea · Answer 3 · 2017-03-30T12:27:31.413

For Swift devs:

let fileMgr = NSFileManager()
let dirPath = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)[0]
if let directoryContents = try? fileMgr.contentsOfDirectoryAtPath(dirPath)
{
    for path in directoryContents 
    {   
        let fullPath = (dirPath as NSString).stringByAppendingPathComponent(path)
        do 
        {
            try fileMgr.removeItem(atPath: fullPath)
            print("Files deleted")
        } 
        catch let error as NSError 
        {
            print("Error deleting: \(error.localizedDescription)")
        }
    }
}

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 01 '12 at 07:10

- (void)removeFile
{
    // you need to write a function to get to that directory
    NSString *filePath = [self getDirectory];
    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];  
    if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:filePath]) 
    {
        NSError *error;
        if (![fileManager removeItemAtPath:filePath error:&error])
        {
            NSLog(@"Error removing file: %@", error); 
        };
    }
}

I believe this is shorter.

It appears this only removes a single file or directory – Warpspace Feb 09 '12 at 08:55 — Warpspace, Feb 09 '12 at 08:55

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 18 '15 at 16:43

Swift 2.1 with some extra's:

do {
    let paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)
    let documentsDirectory = paths[0]
    let documentsDirectoryURL = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: paths[0])

    let directoryContents = try NSFileManager.defaultManager().contentsOfDirectoryAtPath(documentsDirectory)

    var totalMegaBytes: Double = 0
    var nrOfFiles = 0

    for filename in directoryContents {
        let file = documentsDirectoryURL.URLByAppendingPathComponent(filename)


        let fileAttributes = try NSFileManager.defaultManager().attributesOfItemAtPath(file.path!)
        let fileSize = fileAttributes[NSFileSize] as! Double            
        totalMegaBytes += fileSize/1024/1024

        do {
            try NSFileManager.defaultManager().removeItemAtURL(file)
            nrOfFiles++
        }catch let error as NSError{
            print("> Emptying sandbox: could not delete file", filename, error)
        }
    }

    print("> Emptying sandbox: Removed \(nrOfFiles) files with a total of \(round(totalMegaBytes))MB")

}catch let error as NSError{
    print("> Emptying sandbox: Error emptying sandbox", error)
}

I get "error thrown from here are not handled because the enclosing catch is not exhaustive" — Luda, Dec 08 '15 at 16:18
I am upvoting you. But you should really consider removing this: "let error as NSError". Or maybe have some other solution for the above error — Luda, Dec 08 '15 at 16:23
I don't get that warning. Isn't NSError as exhaustive as possible? — Sam, Dec 10 '15 at 15:35

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 28 '13 at 11:28

 NSFileManager *fileMgr = [[[NSFileManager alloc] init] autorelease];
NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *directoryContents = [fileMgr contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:documentsDirectory error:&error];
 if (error == nil) {
   for (NSString *path in directoryContents) {
    NSString *fullPath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:path];
    BOOL removeSuccess = [fileMgr removeItemAtPath:fullPath error:&error];
    if (!removeSuccess) {
        // Error handling
        ...
    }
}
} else {
 // Error handling
...
}

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 07 '14 at 23:09

It may not be applicable in all cases but generally it would be more efficient to put all the files in a custom directory inside Documents Directory and then use removeItemAtPath:error: to delete that directory and create it again. E.g.:

// Clear cache
NSError *error;
[[NSFileManager defaultManager] removeItemAtPath:cacheDirectory error:&error];
if (error)
{
    // error handling
}

// Create cache directory again
NSError *error2;
[[NSFileManager defaultManager] createDirectoryAtPath:cacheDirectory withIntermediateDirectories:YES attributes:nil error:&error2];
if (error2)
{
    // error handling
}

Deleting all the files in the iPhone sandbox (documents folder)?

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