Delphi ActiveX

Remove a Remote Directory on an SFTP Server

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.RemoveDir method, which deletes a remote directory. The only argument is the directory path.

Background: Most SFTP servers refuse to remove a directory that is not empty, so deleting a populated tree means removing its files and subdirectories first — the inverse of building a path level by level. There is no single "recursive delete" in the SFTP protocol; a client implements it by listing, descending, and removing bottom-up.

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var
success: Integer;
sftp: TChilkatSFtp;
port: Integer;
password: WideString;

begin
success := 0;

//  Demonstrates the SFtp.RemoveDir method, which deletes a remote directory.  The only argument
//  is the directory path.

sftp := TChilkatSFtp.Create(Self);

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
port := 22;
success := sftp.Connect('sftp.example.com',port);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(sftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
//  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
password := 'mySshPassword';

success := sftp.AuthenticatePw('mySshLogin',password);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(sftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

success := sftp.InitializeSftp();
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(sftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  Delete a remote directory.  Most SFTP servers require the directory to be empty first.
success := sftp.RemoveDir('subdir/oldfolder');
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(sftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
Memo1.Lines.Add('Directory removed.');

sftp.Disconnect();