# del-cli

> Delete files and directories - Cross-platform

Latest version **7.0.0** (published 2025-09-18) · MIT license · 0 weekly downloads

## Install

```sh
npm install del-cli
pnpm add del-cli
yarn add del-cli
bun add del-cli
```

Provides the commands `del`, `del-cli`.

## Health

**Score 50/100 (C)** — status: stable.

Positive: esm support; no vulnerabilities.

Warnings: low downloads; no types.

## Facts

| | |
|---|---|
| Version | 7.0.0 |
| Published | 2025-09-18 |
| First published | 2015-12-06 |
| Weekly downloads | 0 |
| License | MIT |
| TypeScript types | none |
| Module format | ESM |
| Node | >=18 |
| Dependencies | 3 |
| Unpacked size | 5 KB |
| Known vulnerabilities | 0 |
| Install scripts | no |
| GitHub stars | 332 |
| Author | Sindre Sorhus |
| Maintainers | sindresorhus |
| Keywords | cli-app, cli, delete, del, remove, destroy, trash, unlink, clean, cleaning, cleanup, rm, rmrf, rimraf, rmdir, glob, file, files, folder, directory, fs, filesystem, cross-platform |

## Links

- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/del-cli
- Repository: https://github.com/sindresorhus/del-cli
- Homepage: https://github.com/sindresorhus/del-cli#readme
- Issues: https://github.com/sindresorhus/del-cli/issues
- Funding: https://github.com/sponsors/sindresorhus
- npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/del-cli

## Dependencies (3)

- [del](https://npm.io/package/del.md) ^8.0.1
- [meow](https://npm.io/package/meow.md) ^14.0.0
- [presentable-error](https://npm.io/package/presentable-error.md) ^0.0.1

## Alternatives

- [mobx-react](https://npm.io/package/mobx-react.md) — 2.8M weekly downloads
- [rc-tree](https://npm.io/package/rc-tree.md) — 2.6M weekly downloads
- [@react-oauth/google](https://npm.io/package/@react-oauth/google.md) — 1.3M weekly downloads
- [@wagmi/connectors](https://npm.io/package/@wagmi/connectors.md) — 877.0K weekly downloads
- [vee-validate](https://npm.io/package/vee-validate.md) — 836.4K weekly downloads

## Recent versions

- 7.0.0 (latest) — 2025-09-18
- 6.0.0 — 2024-10-07
- 5.1.0 — 2023-08-31
- 5.0.1 — 2023-08-25
- 5.0.0 — 2022-07-19
- 4.0.1 — 2021-07-15
- 4.0.0 — 2021-06-15
- 3.0.1 — 2020-05-16
- 3.0.0 — 2019-09-08
- 2.0.0 — 2019-05-29
- 1.1.0 — 2017-06-27
- 1.0.0 — 2017-05-09
- 0.2.1 — 2016-12-08
- 0.2.0 — 2016-02-10
- 0.1.2 — 2015-12-22
- … 2 more at https://npm.io/package/del-cli/versions

## README

# del-cli

> Delete files and directories

Useful for use in build scripts and automated things.

*Note that this does permanent deletion. See [`trash-cli`](https://github.com/sindresorhus/trash-cli) for something safer.*

## Install

```sh
npm install --global del-cli
```

## Usage

```
$ del --help

  Usage
    $ del <path|glob> …

  Options
    --force, -f    Allow deleting the current working directory and outside
    --dry-run, -d  List what would be deleted instead of deleting (silent if no matches)
    --verbose, -v  Display the absolute path of files and directories as they are deleted

  Examples
    $ del unicorn.png rainbow.png
    $ del "*.png" "!unicorn.png"
```

> :warning: **Windows users**: Since `$ del` is already a builtin command on Windows, you need to use `$ del-cli` there.

## Comparison

Benefits over `rimraf` CLI: Supports globbing (even on Windows), safer by default as it doesn't allow deleting parent directories, and has a dry-run mode.

Benefits over `rm -rf`: Cross-platform, safer by default as it doesn't allow deleting parent directories, and has a dry-run mode.

## Related

- [del](https://github.com/sindresorhus/del) - API for this package
- [trash-cli](https://github.com/sindresorhus/trash-cli) - Move files and directories to the trash
- [make-dir-cli](https://github.com/sindresorhus/make-dir-cli) - Make directories and their parents if needed

---
_Source: https://npm.io/package/del-cli · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. Health data is recomputed on every publish._