也许这个问题的解决方案是使用erickson回答中的代码重新实现File类的delete方法:

public class MyFile extends File {

  ... <- copy constructor

  public boolean delete() {
    if (f.isDirectory()) {
      for (File c : f.listFiles()) {
        return new MyFile(c).delete();
      }
    } else {
        return f.delete();
    }
  }
}

在遗留项目中，我需要创建本地Java代码。我创建了类似于Paulitex代码的代码。看到:

public class FileHelper {

   public static boolean delete(File fileOrFolder) {
      boolean result = true;
      if(fileOrFolder.isDirectory()) {
         for (File file : fileOrFolder.listFiles()) {
            result = result && delete(file);
         }
      }
      result = result && fileOrFolder.delete();
      return result;
   } 
}

单元测试:

public class FileHelperTest {

    @Before
    public void setup() throws IOException {
       new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE/SUBFOLDER").mkdirs();
       new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE/SUBFOLDER_TWO").mkdirs();
       new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE/SUBFOLDER_TWO/TEST_FILE.txt").createNewFile();
    }

    @Test
    public void deleteFolderWithFiles() {
       File folderToDelete = new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE");
       Assert.assertTrue(FileHelper.delete(folderToDelete));
       Assert.assertFalse(new File("FOLDER_TO_DELETE").exists());
    }

}

在Java 7中，我们终于可以通过可靠的符号链接检测来做到这一点。(我不认为Apache的commons-io现在有可靠的符号链接检测，因为它不处理Windows上用mklink创建的链接。)

出于历史原因，这里有一个java 7之前的答案，它遵循符号链接。

void delete(File f) throws IOException {
  if (f.isDirectory()) {
    for (File c : f.listFiles())
      delete(c);
  }
  if (!f.delete())
    throw new FileNotFoundException("Failed to delete file: " + f);
}

public static void deleteDirectory(File path) 
{
    if (path == null)
        return;
    if (path.exists())
    {
        for(File f : path.listFiles())
        {
            if(f.isDirectory()) 
            {
                deleteDirectory(f);
                f.delete();
            }
            else
            {
                f.delete();
            }
        }
        path.delete();
    }
}

for(Path p : Files.walk(directoryToDelete).
        sorted((a, b) -> b.compareTo(a)). // reverse; files before dirs
        toArray(Path[]::new))
{
    Files.delete(p);
}

或者如果你想处理IOException:

Files.walk(directoryToDelete).
    sorted((a, b) -> b.compareTo(a)). // reverse; files before dirs
    forEach(p -> {
        try { Files.delete(p); }
        catch(IOException e) { /* ... */ }
      });

一个有堆栈且没有递归方法的解决方案:

File dir = new File("/path/to/dir");
File[] currList;
Stack<File> stack = new Stack<File>();
stack.push(dir);
while (! stack.isEmpty()) {
    if (stack.lastElement().isDirectory()) {
        currList = stack.lastElement().listFiles();
        if (currList.length > 0) {
            for (File curr: currList) {
                stack.push(curr);
            }
        } else {
            stack.pop().delete();
        }
    } else {
        stack.pop().delete();
    }
}