can't delete file from external storage in android programmatically

java android file directory delete-directory
Secret picture Secret · Jul 22, 2017 · Viewed 14k times · Source

I am trying to delete a file located at the path

/storage/714D-160A/Xender/image/Screenshot_commando.png

What I've done so far:

  try{
        String d_path = "/storage/714D-160A/Xender/image/Screenshot_commando.png";
        File file = new File(d_path);
        file.delete();

     }catch(Exception e){

        e.printStackTrace();
     }

and the file is still at its place(Not deleted :( )

Also I've given permission in Manifest file.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_INTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.STORAGE" />

Answer

Eftekhari picture Eftekhari · Jul 31, 2017

Using ContentResolver to delete media files is wrong and provides many problems for the user.
You can not delete a file on the sd-card simply by deleting its information from the ContentResolver on Android versions greater than Jelly Bean(4.3).
It works only on Android versions prior to KitKat(4.4).
That's why the Android team provided DocumentProvider.

Why contentResolver.delete(...) is wrong?
1. Fills up the sd-card
When you try to delete a media file on the sd-card by the ContentResolver on Android versions greater than 4.3, the actual media file will remain untouched because the contentResolver.delete(...) approach only removes the information (name, date, path ...) of the media and you will end up having unregistered media files on your sd-card which ContentResolver has no idea about their existence anymore and that's why you couldn't see them in your gallery and you think they've been deleted with this approach while they're still there and fill up the sd-card each time the user tries to delete a media file on the sd-card.

2. Media files (Images, videos, gifs ...) will come back to the gallery
There are many apps out there especially gallery and file manager ones that will find these unregistered media files and will add them to the ContentResolver again as of their normal behavior while the user assumes his/her unwanted media files are gone. Sure no user wants his/her assuming deleted images or videos show up in the middle of a demonstration.

So, what's the correct approach to remove media files on the sd-card?
Well, this has already been answered here with the use of DocumentProvider.

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