Lignator - removes directory trees FAST

4,36 GB of data, 28 042 files, 4 217 folders on Windows removed in 15 seconds vs rimraf's 60 seconds on old HDD.

Removes directory trees ultra-fast synchronously (compared to async code). No extra dependencies. Node.js v10+ required.

Install with npm install lignator, or just drop lignator.js somewhere.

Example usage:

const lignator = require('lignator');

// Removes local directory `build` and returns number of files removed
lignator.remove('build');

// Remove only contents of `build`, not the directory itself
lignator.remove('build', false);

API

■ lignator.remove(root, removeRoot=true): Number

Removes the directory specified by the root argument and all files and directories inside. Does that synchronously (fast).

If removeRoot is false, then starting directory will not be removed, only its contents.

This function tries hard, especially on Windows, where various issues arise because files aren't removed instantaneously or permissions might be insufficient or files might be locked by other processes.

Returns number of files and directories removed.

Note: In rare cases files might be still visible in Windows Explorer after successfull call of lignator.remove(...). These files are usually locked by other processes (e.g. code editor), when you close the program, these files will vanish.

■ lignator.log = null;

■ lignator.log = function(file, error) { ... };

In rare cases some files might be locked and calling lignator.remove(...) will log appropriate messages via console.log() calls. You can suppress these messages by setting lignator.log = null; or provide your own callback function.

CLI

You can call lignator-remove <path> [<path> ...] inside your npm scripts field in package.json.

You can also install this package globally npm install lignator -g and you will be able to call lignator-remove <path> [<path> ...] on your command line.