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Xbase++

Remove a Remote Directory on an SFTP Server

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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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Xbase++
LOCAL nSuccess
LOCAL oSftp
LOCAL nPort
LOCAL cPassword

nSuccess := 0

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

oSftp := CreateObject("Chilkat.SFtp")

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
nPort := 22
nSuccess := oSftp:Connect("sftp.example.com", nPort)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  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.
cPassword := "mySshPassword"

nSuccess := oSftp:AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin", cPassword)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

nSuccess := oSftp:InitializeSftp()
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  Delete a remote directory.  Most SFTP servers require the directory to be empty first.
nSuccess := oSftp:RemoveDir("subdir/oldfolder")
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oSftp:LastErrorText
    oSftp:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

? "Directory removed."

oSftp:Disconnect()

oSftp:destroy()