Batch file project: A batch file that deletes the Windows temp folder

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Getting rid of all that junk the easy way: A batch file that deletes the Windows temp folder.

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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Batch file project: A batch file that deletes the Windows temp folder and recreates an empty one

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 1998, Al Fasoldt

   Please read this introduction if you are unfamiliar with batch files. The batch file is listed after this introduction. (Experienced DOS users can skip this section.)

   Batch files are texts that contain instructions for the MS-DOS command processor. They are texts that contain the same kind of commands that you could type on the DOS command line, either in a DOS window while running Windows or when the PC is running only DOS.
   Create a batch file using Notepad or any other editor (or, less suitably, a word processor) with word-wrap turned off. Save the file as a text using the name listed above in big type. Make sure the file has a .BAT filename extension, like this: MYFILE.BAT. You can cut and paste from your browser window to create the batch file listed here.
   You run a batch file by typing the first part of its name from a DOS command line or from another batch file. To run MYFILE.BAT, you'd type "MYFILE" at the command line, or you'd run it from a batch file with a line that says the same thing. You should make sure that all your batch files are located in the path that MS-DOS uses. This could be "C:\Windows\Command" under Windows 95 or "C:\DOS" under Windows 3.1 and 3.11, or it could be a special folder (called "BAT," maybe) somewhere else. If you use a special folder, make sure the location of that folder is part of the path statement in your PC's AUTOEXEC.BAT. (Note well: If you have Windows 95, you do not need to do anything fancy; just put the batch folder's name in the AUTOEXEC.BAT this way:
  SET PATH=C:\BAT
and leave out the "C:\Windows; C:\Windows\Command" stuff entirely. Windows 95 ALWAYS puts its own folders in the path.)

********** BATCH FILE BEGINS HERE. **********


@echo off

goto top



deltemp.bat

Al Fasoldt 2-22-98

Deletes the standard Windows temp folder.



If your Windows temp folder is in another location,

change the path to whatever you need.



************************************************

Important note! This is the least sophisticated way

of deleting the temp folder. See CURRENT.BAT if you

want to employ a method that bypasses all files

and folders created on the current date. This would

make sure that no setup files are deleted if a setup

program is using the temp folder between bootups.

CURRENT.BAT probably is overkill and should not

be needed in most cases. Feel free to try it if you

want ultimate safety in controlling the temp folder.

************************************************



Call this from the AUTOEXEC.BAT by using

a CALL command, this way, at the end of the autoexec.bat:



 ... [whatever commands are in your autoexec.bat] ...

 call deltemp



:top

deltree /y c:\windows\temp

md c:\windows\temp

********** BATCH FILE ENDS HERE. **********