# grunt-contrib-clean [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/gruntjs/grunt-contrib-clean.png?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/gruntjs/grunt-contrib-clean) > Clean files and folders. ## Getting Started This plugin requires Grunt `~0.4.0` If you haven't used [Grunt](http://gruntjs.com/) before, be sure to check out the [Getting Started](http://gruntjs.com/getting-started) guide, as it explains how to create a [Gruntfile](http://gruntjs.com/sample-gruntfile) as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command: ```shell npm install grunt-contrib-clean --save-dev ``` Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript: ```js grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-clean'); ``` *This plugin was designed to work with Grunt 0.4.x. If you're still using grunt v0.3.x it's strongly recommended that [you upgrade](http://gruntjs.com/upgrading-from-0.3-to-0.4), but in case you can't please use [v0.3.2](https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt-contrib-clean/tree/grunt-0.3-stable).* ## Clean task _Run this task with the `grunt clean` command._ Task targets, files and options may be specified according to the grunt [Configuring tasks](http://gruntjs.com/configuring-tasks) guide. *Due to the destructive nature of this task, always be cautious of the paths you clean.* ### Options #### force Type: `Boolean` Default: false This overrides this task from blocking deletion of folders outside current working dir (CWD). Use with caution. #### no-write Type: `Boolean` Default: false Will log messages of what would happen if the task was ran but doesn't actually delete the files. ### Usage Examples There are three formats you can use to run this task. #### Short ```js clean: ["path/to/dir/one", "path/to/dir/two"] ``` #### Medium (specific targets with global options) ```js clean: { build: ["path/to/dir/one", "path/to/dir/two"], release: ["path/to/another/dir/one", "path/to/another/dir/two"] }, ``` #### Long (specific targets with per target options) ```js clean: { build: { src: ["path/to/dir/one", "path/to/dir/two"] } } ``` ## Release History * 2013-07-15   v0.5.0   Use rimraf directly, version 2.2.1 to fix issue on Windows. Add no-write option to mimic grunt.file.delete behavior. * 2013-04-16   v0.4.1   Check if file exists to avoid trying to delete a non-existent file. * 2013-02-15   v0.4.0   First official release for Grunt 0.4.0. * 2013-01-18   v0.4.0rc6   Updating grunt/gruntplugin dependencies to rc6. Changing in-development grunt/gruntplugin dependency versions from tilde version ranges to specific versions. * 2013-01-09   v0.4.0rc5   Updating to work with grunt v0.4.0rc5. Switching to this.filesSrc api. * 2012-12-07   v0.4.0a   Conversion to grunt v0.4 conventions. Remove node v0.6 and grunt v0.3 support. Add force option to bypass CWD check. * 2012-09-23   v0.3.0   Options no longer accepted from global config key. * 2012-09-10   v0.2.0   Refactored from grunt-contrib into individual repo. --- Task submitted by [Tim Branyen](http://tbranyen.com/) *This file was generated on Mon Jul 15 2013 20:45:46.*