Delete specific folders from folder tree with DOS

Lets say we want to delete all directories called "foo" with all their subdirectories in a folder structure. The DOS command would look like this:

for /f %D in ('dir /s/b/ad ^| find "foo"') do rd /s/q "%D"

The options of the dir command are as follows:

• /s to display into all subdirectories as well
• /b to show the bare format omitting time, date, type etc.
• /ad to display only items with attribute (/a) directory (d).

The list is passed on to the find command using an escaped pipe (^|). Find will filter out anything but the folder name we are interessted in.

The for loop uses one parameter:

• /f passes the first blank separated token from each line

which is the path to the directory and exactly what we need.

Now we delete the directory held in variable %D with the rd command and options:

• /s to remove the entire directory with all files and subdirectories
• /q to skip the confirmation that is prompted on deletions by default

Done. More information on the commands used you'll find here, here and here.