DEL, ERASE

DEL and ERASE are the same commands.

Deletes files. Use with caution, especially in combination with wildcards. Only deletes files To delete use RD.

Examples:

del File.txt
del /s *.txt
Deletes the files recursively including nested directories, but keeps the directories; mercilessly deletes all matching files without asking for confirmation.
del /p /s *.txt
As above, but asks for confirmation before every single file.
del /q *.txt
Deletes without asking for confirmation.

Links:

$ del /?
Deletes one or more files.

DEL [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names
ERASE [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names

  names         Specifies a list of one or more files or directories.
                Wildcards may be used to delete multiple files. If a
                directory is specified, all files within the directory
                will be deleted.

  /P            Prompts for confirmation before deleting each file.
  /F            Force deleting of read-only files.
  /S            Delete specified files from all subdirectories.
  /Q            Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
  /A            Selects files to delete based on attributes
  attributes    R  Read-only files            S  System files
                H  Hidden files               A  Files ready for archiving
                I  Not content indexed Files  L  Reparse Points
                O  Offline files              -  Prefix meaning not

If Command Extensions are enabled DEL and ERASE change as follows:

The display semantics of the /S switch are reversed in that it shows
you only the files that are deleted, not the ones it could not find.

Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea? Let me know.

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