delphi-clean

Overview

delphi-clean is a PowerShell utility designed for Delphi developers to help remove build artifacts, intermediate files, and IDE-generated clutter.

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Example Workflow

# Preview cleanup
pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -WhatIf

# Perform cleanup
pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1

# CI usage
pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Level full -Json

Features

• Three cleanup levels: lite, build, full
• CI-friendly output with optional JSON mode
• Optional structured output via -PassThru
• Supports the -WhatIf dry-run mode
• Add extra file patterns with -IncludeFilePattern
• Exclude directories by wildcard pattern with -ExcludeDirPattern
• Send items to the recycle bin / trash instead of permanent deletion with -RecycleBin

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PowerShell Compatibility

Runs on the widely available Windows PowerShell 5.1 (powershell.exe) and the newer PowerShell 7+ (pwsh).

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Usage

Run the script from its directory, or provide a path explicitly.

Basic Usage

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1

Defaults to:

• Level: lite
• Root: parent directory of the script

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Specify Level

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Level lite
pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Level build
pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Level full

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Specify Root Path

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -RootPath C:\code\my-project

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Dry Run (Recommended First)

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -WhatIf

Shows what would be deleted without making changes.

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Verbose Output

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Verbose

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PassThru (Structured Output)

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -PassThru

Returns objects describing each item processed.

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JSON Output (CI-friendly)

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Json

Outputs a JSON summary including:

• Files found
• Directories found
• Files deleted
• Directories deleted
• Item-level details
• Disposition (Permanent or Recycle Bin) and RecycleBin flag

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Exclude Directories

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -ExcludeDirectories .git,.vs,.idea

Matches exact directory names. Default exclusions are .git, .vs, and .claude.

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Include Extra File Patterns

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Level lite -IncludeFilePattern '*.res'
pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Level lite -IncludeFilePattern '*.res','*.mab'

Appends additional glob patterns to the level's built-in file list. Useful for project-specific artifacts not covered by the standard levels.

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Exclude Directory Patterns

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -ExcludeDirPattern 'vendor*'
pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -ExcludeDirPattern 'vendor*','assets'

Skips any directory whose name matches one of the given wildcard patterns. Unlike -ExcludeDirectories, patterns are matched with -like so wildcards (*, ?) are supported.

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Recycle Bin

pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -RecycleBin
pwsh -File .\delphi-clean.ps1 -Level build -RecycleBin

Sends items to the platform trash instead of permanently deleting them.

Platform	Destination
Windows	Recycle Bin (Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO)
macOS	~/.Trash/
Linux	~/.local/share/Trash/ (FreeDesktop spec)

Combine with -WhatIf to preview which items would be recycled without making any changes.

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Clean Levels

• see: /docs/cleanup-levels.md for breakdown of each level

lite (default)

Safe cleanup of common transient files.

Includes:

• .dcu, .tmp, .bak, .identcache
• __history

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build

Removes build outputs and generated artifacts.

Includes everything in lite, plus:

• Compiled binaries (.exe, .bpl, etc.)
• Debug and release folders
• Intermediate files

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full

More aggressive cleanup

Includes everything in build, plus:

• Backup files (*.~*)
• FinalBuilder related files (logs, breakpoint, lock)
• TestInsight custom settings

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Maturity

This repository is currently incubator and is under active development. It will graduate to stable once:

• At least one downstream consumer exists.

Until graduation, breaking changes may occur

Continuous-Delphi

This tool is part of the Continuous-Delphi ecosystem, focused on improving engineering discipline for long-lived Delphi systems.