Remove everything in the path except some files in Windows CMD

Question

When it comes to Windows command prompt, I always get confused about path, which seems so easy to grasp in Linux Terminal counterparts.

What I wanna do is, I want to delete everything(both files and folders in one command) in the path (for eg. pub\static directory path) except a file called .htaccess relative from my root directory(C:\wwwroot\Magento2), which is open in Windows command prompt.

How can I do this, I tried the below for loop, but it deletes .htaccess instead. Also how to avoid for loop altogether but get the job done as I described (relative from root directory) ?

for %i in (C:\wwwroot\Magento2\pub\static\*) do if not %i == .htaccess del %i

So I googled a bit and tried below one, but it doesn't do anything:

FOR /D %p IN ("C:\wwwroot\Magento2\pub\static\*.*") DO ( IF NOT %p == .htaccess ( IF EXIST %~sp\NUL ( RMDIR "%p" /S /Q ) ELSE ( DEL /F "%p" ) ) )

Also: What should happen if a subdirectory contains _only_ the file `.htaccess`? Should we remove the subdirectory or not? — Bill_Stewart, Dec 19 '16 at 19:49
Only the .htaccess directly inside `static` folder should remain, the rest of the content inside `static` folder should be gone for good. — Vicky Dev, Dec 19 '16 at 19:52
I tried some command syntaxex but I cannot create a for loop with nested if else that could span multiple lines and that could run in command prompt without batch file. — Vicky Dev, Dec 19 '16 at 19:53
I cannot install Powershell, as my sysadmin won't allow in office system. There must be some other way. — Vicky Dev, Dec 19 '16 at 19:55
PowerShell is built into the OS on Windows Server 2008 R2 and newer and Windows 7 and later. There is no install needed. — Bill_Stewart, Dec 19 '16 at 19:59
Ok then can you give me Powershell counterpart command for this ? — Vicky Dev, Dec 19 '16 at 20:00
I created an answer that has an example of how to do this easily in PowerShell. — Bill_Stewart, Dec 19 '16 at 20:01
Ok just one thing, can I set default directory to open Powershell in ? — Vicky Dev, Dec 19 '16 at 20:02
That is a separate question. Start by reading the PowerShell documentation. — Bill_Stewart, Dec 19 '16 at 20:15
Possible duplicate of [Batch command to delete everything (sub folders and files) from a folder except one file](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/39159922/batch-command-to-delete-everything-sub-folders-and-files-from-a-folder-except) — aschipfl, Dec 20 '16 at 09:43
I don't want a long list of commands like in that question, I just want one liner just like it is Linux. — Vicky Dev, Dec 20 '16 at 17:32

Bill_Stewart · Answer 1 · 2016-12-19T20:14:50.537

0

Single PowerShell command:

Get-ChildItem C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Magento2\pub\static -Recurse |
  Where-Object { $_.Name -ne ".htaccess" } | Remove-Item -Recurse

edited Dec 19 '16 at 20:14

answered Dec 19 '16 at 20:00

Bill_Stewart

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Well it gives this error `An empty pipe element is not allowed. At line:1 char:4 + | <<<< Where-Object { $_.Name -ne ".htaccess" } | Remove-Item -Recurse + CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : EmptyPipeElement` – Vicky Dev Dec 19 '16 at 20:05
Even if I don't have administrator access then also I can open and run commands in Powershell ? – Vicky Dev Dec 19 '16 at 20:06
You don't have to be administrator. Also, the above two lines are a single command. The newline is for readability. I moved the pipe character to the correct place. – Bill_Stewart Dec 19 '16 at 20:14

Remove everything in the path except some files in Windows CMD

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