How to Delete a File or Folder to Recyclebin

If we delete file or folder using C# code, it will be deleted from the system permanently. Yesterday, I was searching for a solution which helps me to delete file to recycle bin. There is no direct API* available in .NET which helps me to achieve this. Later, I found an option using SHFileOperation function. And here is the implementation, which helps to delete file or folder to Recyclebin.

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto, Pack = 1)]
public struct SHFILEOPSTRUCT
{
    public IntPtr hwnd;
    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
    public int wFunc;
    public string pFrom;
    public string pTo;
    public short fFlags;
    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    public bool fAnyOperationsAborted;
    public IntPtr hNameMappings;
    public string lpszProgressTitle;
}

[DllImport("shell32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
public static extern int SHFileOperation(ref SHFILEOPSTRUCT FileOp);

public const int FO_DELETE = 3;
public const int FOF_ALLOWUNDO = 0x40;
public const int FOF_NOCONFIRMATION = 0x10; // Don't prompt the user

And you can use this function like this:

var shf = new Win32.SHFILEOPSTRUCT();
shf.wFunc = Win32.FO_DELETE;
shf.fFlags = Win32.FOF_ALLOWUNDO;
shf.pFrom = @"c:\myfile.txt" + '\0' + '\0';
Win32.SHFileOperation(ref shf);

The pFrom parameter can be either file or folder.

Happy programming! :)

* This is not 100% true. We can do this by using Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace. And here is the implementation.

using Microsoft.VisualBasic;

string path = @"c:\myfile.txt";
FileIO.FileSystem.DeleteDirectory(path,
    FileIO.UIOption.OnlyErrorDialogs,
    RecycleOption.SendToRecycleBin);

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