Under Unix, if you say

   rm file1

it deletes the specified file. If you say

   rm folder1

it deletes the specified folder. So far so good, eh?

Now consider CMD.EXE, the Windows NT command processor. If you do

   DEL file1

it deletes the specified file. If you now say

   DEL folder1

it asks you "are you sure?". If you add the /Q switch, it will just 
delete the folder... hahaha! No, it won't. Actually, it merely deletes 
the /contents/ of the folder. Actually, you know what? No it doesn't. It 
deletes the /files/ within the folder. Unless you add /S (recursive 
delete), in which case all files in all folders are deleted, but the 
folders themselves remain.

In order to /actually/ delete a folder, you must do

  RMDIR folder1

Oh, but that fails if the folder is not empty, so you must add /S. Oh, 
but that asks for confirmation, so you must add /Q as well.

Short version: To delete an object, you must know whether it is a file 
or a folder. Thanks for that... :-P

Special bonus for failing to document this fact anywhere. (E.g., the 
manual for DEL doesn't mention that there's an RMDIR command.)

Post a reply to this message