Batch: Testing for Empty Directories

To test whether a directory (or “folder”) is empty, the code

if exist "%dir%\*.*" (
  echo %dir% is non-empty
) else (
  echo %dir% is empty
)

does not work; it always reports “non-empty”.

The trick

( dir /b /a "%dir%" | findstr . ) > nul && (
  echo %dir% non-empty
) || (
  echo %dir% empty
)

using conditional execution, however, does work.

Here is an example file using this trick in a separate “function”:

@echo off

goto :main

REM *** === Function "Test" ===================================================

:test
if not "%1" == "" (
  if exist "%1" (
    ( dir /b /a "%1" | findstr . ) > nul && (
      echo %1 non-empty
    ) || (
      echo %1 empty
    )
  ) else (
    echo %1 missing
  )
) else (
  echo error: no parameter
)
goto :EOF

REM *** === Main ==============================================================

:main

call :test path\to\some\directory

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