How to `rm -rf *` in TCL

Question

I want to delete all files in a directory using TCL. (I'm using Xilinx Vivado's TCL console under Win 10.) I found that in TCL documentation that

file delete ?-force? ?- -? pathname ?pathname ... ?

should work. But

file delete -force -- [glob *]

does nothing. What's the wrong with that?

mrcalvin · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-18T14:16:58.003

6

Make that

  file delete -force -- {*}[glob *]

... so that the path names returned by [glob] are turned into multiple arguments to [file delete] (using the expansion operator {*}), rather than one argument representing the one list of a path names (read by [file delete] as one, well complex file path).

Alternatively, on Tcl older than 8.5, use an explicit loop:

 foreach path [glob *] {
    file delete -force -- $path
 }

edited Jan 18 '19 at 14:16

answered Jan 18 '19 at 14:11

mrcalvin

3,291
12
18

Expansion of `[glob]` results for use in command calls, e.g., `[file]`, is a common theme here, see also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40143368/tcl-wildcard-glob-usage-within-file-name. – mrcalvin Jan 18 '19 at 14:16

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 18 '19 at 16:57

Additional things for you do consider:

do you need to be concerned about deleting files, not directories? Consider the -type option for the glob command.
if you need to work recursively, don't reinvent the wheel and use tcllib. The fileutil::traverse and fileutil packages are relevant.

How to `rm -rf *` in TCL

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