Deleting files using batch file

Question

I have the following batch file snippet:

FOR /F %%G IN (
'dir /b /s ApprovalClassLibrary.dll Constants.dll CustomControls.dll NetSpell.SpellChecker.dll'
) do (
ECHO Deleting "%%G"
del %%G
)

which I am trying to use to delete any DLL files listed.

The dir command correctly finds the files as follows:

    C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\HRActions 10.3.2\ApprovalClassLibrary\bin\Constants.dll
    C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\HRActions 10.3.2\ApprovalClassLibrary\SetupFiles\publish\bin\Constants.dll
    C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\HRActions 10.3.2\Constants\bin\Constants.dll
    C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\HRActions 10.3.2\Constants\obj\x86\Release\Constants.dll
    C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\HRActions 10.3.2\CustomControls\bin\CustomControls.dll
...

But when I run the script I get the following

    Deleting "C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual"
    Could Not Find C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual
    Deleting "C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual"
    Could Not Find C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual
    Deleting "C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual"
    Could Not Find C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual
    Deleting "C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual"
    Could Not Find C:\Users\brian\Documents\Visual
...

It appears that the path is breaking due to the space in the directory. How can I get this command to properly expand the path so I can delete the files?

Answer 1

You need to add a delims phrase:

FOR /F "delims=" %%G IN (

And definitely change the DEL to

del "%%G"

-if you don't, del will attempt to delete the list of files provide in the argument, with the usual spaces and commas as separators.

Answer 2

You need to add "Delims=" to your for statement, otherwise it will break on every space by default.