add helper to purge directories recursively

tools/lammps-gui/helpers.cpp

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 #include "helpers.h"
 
+#include <QDir>
 #include <QFile>
 #include <QFileInfo>
 #include <QProcess>
@@ -66,6 +67,23 @@ bool has_exe(const QString &exe)
         return false; // Not found!
 }
 
+// recursively remove all contents from a directory
+
+void purge_directory(const QString &dir)
+{
+    QDir directory(dir);
+
+    directory.setFilter(QDir::AllEntries | QDir::NoDotAndDotDot);
+    const auto &entries = directory.entryList();
+    for (auto &entry : entries) {
+        if (!directory.remove(entry)) {
+            directory.cd(entry);
+            directory.removeRecursively();
+            directory.cdUp();
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 // Local Variables:
 // c-basic-offset: 4
 // End:

tools/lammps-gui/helpers.h

@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ extern char *mystrdup(const QString &text);
 // find if executable is in path
 extern bool has_exe(const QString &exe);
 
+// recursively purge a directory
+extern void purge_directory(const QString &dir);
+
 #endif
 // Local Variables:
 // c-basic-offset: 4