![\"\"](\"\/images\/trailspace.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThere are a number of possibilities as to why folders cannot be deleted but this one I came across recently got my attention. While decompressing a zip file it created its extracted folder but when I came to remove the folder it came up with the error “Cannot delete file: Cannot read from the source file or disk”. After investigating I realised that it had a trailing space at the end of the folder. Now I knew what was causing the removal to fail but how to get rid of it?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Well there are a few ways on how to remove folders with trailing spaces:<\/p>\n
1. Using the “\\\\?\\” syntax
\n2. Using 8.3 short filename format (if folder is more than 8 characters)<\/p>\n
Below is an example code which creates a folder called “testfolder” in C:\\TEMP with a trailing space. Note that after the space \\\\ is required for it to create the space after the folder. Once compiled and run it will create the testfolder, pause for 5 seconds and then remove it. The trailing space can be more than just one space character.<\/p>\n
#include <stdio.h>
\n#include <windows.h><\/p>\n
int main()
\n{
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 CreateDirectory(“C:\\\\TEMP\\\\testfolder \\\\”, NULL);
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sleep(5000);
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RemoveDirectory(“C:\\\\TEMP\\\\testfolder \\\\”);
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 return 0;
\n}<\/p>\n
Examples on how to delete trailing space folders from the console.<\/p>\n
C:\\>rd c:\\temp\\testfo~1
\nC:\\>rd “\\\\?\\c:\\temp\\testfolder ”<\/p>\n
Reference:<\/p>\n