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Objective-C

Recursively Delete a Remote FTP Directory Tree

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Demonstrates the Chilkat Ftp2.DeleteTree method, which recursively deletes the files and subdirectories beneath the current remote directory. It takes no arguments. Child directories are removed after their contents; the current root directory itself remains.

Background: FTP has no single recursive-delete command, so this method does the work a client otherwise scripts by hand: descend the tree and remove files and directories bottom-up. It is powerful and irreversible, so the ChangeRemoteDir into the intended directory beforehand is a critical safety step — running it from the wrong place would wipe the wrong subtree. The root directory you are in is left intact; remove it separately with RemoveRemoteDir if desired.

Chilkat Objective-C Downloads

Objective-C
#import <CkoFtp2.h>

BOOL success = NO;

//  Demonstrates the Ftp2.DeleteTree method, which recursively deletes the files and subdirectories
//  beneath the current remote directory.  It takes no arguments.

CkoFtp2 *ftp = [[CkoFtp2 alloc] init];

ftp.Hostname = @"ftp.example.com";
ftp.Username = @"myFtpLogin";

//  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.
ftp.Password = @"myPassword";

success = [ftp Connect];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

success = [ftp ChangeRemoteDir: @"public_html"];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  Change into the directory whose contents should be removed.
success = [ftp ChangeRemoteDir: @"uploads/temp"];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  Recursively delete everything beneath the current directory.  Child directories are removed
//  after their contents; the current root directory itself remains.
success = [ftp DeleteTree];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

NSLog(@"%@",@"Subtree deleted.");

success = [ftp Disconnect];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",ftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}