delete empty folders

Run this AppleScript when the main folder is in the frontmost Finder window:

tell application "Finder"

repeat with this_folder in (get folders of window 1)

if (count items of this_folder) is 0 then delete this_folder

end repeat

end tell

(71245)

To do that, replace window 1 with something like:

folder "Macintosh HD:Users:nonexistent_folder:"

(71247)

You might want to try a recursive solution, so that empty folders containing only empty folders are deleted. Something like this:

on killEmpty(fol)

tell application "Finder"

repeat with f in (get fol's folders)

my killEmpty(f)

end repeat

if (count items of fol) is 0 then delete fol

end tell

end killEmpty

tell application "Finder"

repeat with f in (get folders of window 1)

my killEmpty(f)

end repeat

end tell

You'll find that doing it this way is much faster:

set folderToClean to "/path/to/folder to clean/"

tell application "System Events"

set emptyFolders to path of folders of folder folderToClean whose (disk items whose visible is true) = {}

end tell

tell application "Finder"

deleteemptyFolders

-- empty trash

-- uncomment the above line if you want the trash to be automatically emptied

end tell

Try using colon delimiters and putting the disk name first:

folders of alias "MacHD:Users:myname:myfolder"

tw3's solution is very attractive but would still benefit from being made recursive (if your folder structure is likely to warrant it).

Jeremy

Just what I was looking for - works as expected. Thanks for sharing this script.

Script works great except it is identifying .ds files in many of the folders and refusing to delete. Thoughts??

I've made a small and free program that does exactly that:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/52551/find-empty-folders

The advantage of this program is that it also finds folders that are apparently empty but contain the invisible ".DS_Store" file.

And it also lets you move the found items to Trash right away.

Thank you! This still works 5 years later. 😁

Susan