If you want to delete a directory and all of its the subdirectories, use rmtree from File::Path.

The alternative is not very hard.

use File::Spec::Functions qw( catfile );

my $dir = ...;
opendir(my $dh, $dir_name)
   or die("Unable to list contents of dir \"$dir_name\": $!\n");

while (defined(my $file_name = readdir($dh))) {
   my $full_name = catpath($dir_name, $file_name);
   next unless -f $full_name;
   unlink($full_name)
      or warn("Unable to delete file \"$full_name\": $!\n");
}
[download]

I want to secure delete shred these files too.

rmtree and unlink don't do that. It might be easier and more reliable to use an existing tool (directly or by calling it from Perl if you want some automation).

Note: There is some questions as to whether it is truly possible to 'shred' a magnetically recorded file. I have had hall-way chats at conferences about 'secure deletion of magnetic media' with folks who have a strong interest in the topic. The consensus seems to be that short of physically destroying the media in a high-temperature furnace, given enough determination (and money) any erasure method can be reversed and a sizable portion of the data retrieved. The operant word in the last sentence is 'money'.

Quite a while ago, when I worked for a US helicopter manufacturer, we had to write a security plan for ensuring that classified material on magnetic media could not be read. Our technique was to remove the platter from the hard drive and sand blast off the magnetic medium.

Overkill is very much in the US military tradition; using a good tape degausser would probably be more than adequate.

emc

Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world.

—Mary Shafer, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

using a good tape degausser would probably be more than adequate

Ahh .. the good old tape degausser. I've ruined a number of watches (and probably a few brain cells) while running 9 track reels through em. Hmmm ... I need to find that release form that said I wouldn't hold the company liable if I became ill from using the degausser (nothing like forced contracts).

-derby

I want to secure delete shred these files

You might check out Shred, Wiper, Cleaning up your hard disk, and Bitwise File Shredding.
There's some good stuff in those threads, in addition to the codes presented in the root nodes.

But I'm also offering my own solution: overwrite a file.

(Ugh, I couldn't link right to #title)