How to delete all temp files using powershell

Question

Anyone knows how to delete all temp files using powershell.

Get-ChildItem $env:TEMP\TEMP | Remove-Item -confirm:$false -force -Recurse

I tired this code but it couldn't work. Can you suggest me any better way to perform the same.

Hourly

Are you trying to delete a TEMP folder inside the C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp folder? – Mineraloid

Answer 1

If you don't want to see any errors, you could use the -ErrorAction switch like this:

Remove-Item -Path $env:TEMP\* -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Bushmaster

warning! this command will delete the Temp folder itself so you will not have C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp exists after command is executed. You can try to use $env:temp\* to delete the Temp folder content only. – Ethelynethene

Most of the times it's nice to only delete files older than some days -- e.g. Get-ChildItem -File -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Path $env:TEMP | ?{ $_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-$days)} | rm -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue and then delete empty directories: https://mcmap.net/q/262649/-how-to-recursively-remove-all-empty-folders-in-powershell – Cotsen

Answer 2

To empty TEMP folder and leave the folder in place, you should use this command:

Remove-Item $env:TEMP\* -Recurse

If you don't want to type so much, you can use also shorter version:

rm $env:TEMP\* -r

Rebus

Answer 3

Just use this:

Remove-Item -Path $env:TEMP -Recurse -Force

Of course you will get access errors if any of the files you are deleting are actually being used by the system.

Mineraloid

Answer 4

I'm running PS as LOCAdmin and run following command

PS C:\Windows\system32>$tempfolders = @(“C:\Windows\Temp\*”, “C:\Windows\Prefetch\*”, “C:\Documents and Settings\*\Local Settings\temp\*”, “C:\Users\*\Appdata\Local\Temp\*”)
PS C:\Windows\system32>Remove-Item $tempfolders -force -recurse

works for me :)

Mcmahan

Downvoted for plagiarising from devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/… You should follow the guidelines on referencing other sources at stackoverflow.com/help/referencing – Johny