Does . Mean A Wildcard?

[Nexusfactor]

I was looking for away to use a batch file to properly remove sub folders/files but leave the parent directory. I found this code on SO:

Code: [Select]

cd "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\cache"
rd /s /q .
What does the . after the q mean? I tried it in a batch file without the . and it gave me an error. With the dot, it worked, and gave me and error that the SO post said was supposed to happen(because the directory you are cleaning is use). Is the . a wildcard, sort of like *.* ? So remove all files and folder regardless of names/extension?

[DaveLembke]

Its to target the current path for the RD instruction I believe in which the batch is being executed from. Similar to how CD . works. While CD .. beings you back 1 level. CD . will keep you at the same level of the directory tree. If you type CD without a . or .. or \ it will just echo back to prompt for example.

[Salmon Trout]

In Windows rd /s /q . is a trick rather than an official method, when trying to delete the current directory it fails (of course) and returns the message "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."