Delete files and directories using globs

Similar to 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.

$ npm install del

const del = require('del');

(async () => {
	const deletedPaths = await del(['temp/*.js', '!temp/unicorn.js']);

	console.log('Deleted files and directories:\n', deletedPaths.join('\n'));
})();

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

So this won't work:

del.sync(['public/assets/**', '!public/assets/goat.png']);

You have to explicitly ignore the parent directories too:

del.sync(['public/assets/**', '!public/assets', '!public/assets/goat.png']);

Suggestions on how to improve this welcome!

Note that glob patterns can only contain forward-slashes, not backward-slashes, so if you want to construct a glob pattern from path components, you need to use path.posix.join() instead of path.join().

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

Returns string[] with the deleted paths.

Type: string | string[]

See the supported glob patterns.

• Pattern examples with expected matches
• Quick globbing pattern overview

Type: object

You can specify any of the globby options in addition to the below options. In constrast to the globby defaults, expandDirectories, onlyFiles, and followSymbolicLinks are false by default.

Type: boolean
Default: false

Allow deleting the current working directory and outside.

Type: boolean
Default: false

See what would be deleted.

const del = require('del');

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

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

Type: number
Default: Infinity
Minimum: 1

Concurrency limit.

See del-cli for a CLI for this module and trash-cli for a safe version that is suitable for running by hand.

• make-dir - Make a directory and its parents if needed
• globby - User-friendly glob matching