<p>I am getting an 'access is denied' error when I attempt to delete a folder that is not empty. I used the following command in my attempt: <code>os.remove("/folder_name")</code>. </p>

<p>What is the most effective way of removing/deleting a folder/directory that is not empty?</p>

```
```
import shutil

shutil.rmtree('/folder_name')
```
```
Standard Library Reference: shutil.rmtree
.
By design,
```
rmtree
```
fails on folder trees containing read-only files. If you want the folder to be deleted regardless of whether it contains read-only files, then use
```
```
shutil.rmtree('/folder_name', ignore_errors=True)
```
```