rm_empty_subdirs

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os

def remove_empty_directories(initial_dir,
    allow_initial_delete=False, ignore_nonexistant_initial=False,
    dry_run=False, quiet=False):

    FORBIDDEN_SUBDIRS = set([".git"])

    if not os.path.isdir(initial_dir) and not ignore_nonexistant_initial:
        raise RuntimeError("Initial directory '{}' not found!".format(initial_dir))

    message = "removed"
    if dry_run:
        message = "to be " + message

    deleted = set()

    for (directory, subdirs, files) in os.walk(initial_dir, topdown=False):
        forbidden = False
        parent = directory
        while parent:
            parent, dirname = os.path.split(parent)
            if dirname in FORBIDDEN_SUBDIRS:
                forbidden = True
                break
        if forbidden:
            continue

        is_empty = len(files) < 1 and len(set([os.path.join(directory, s) for s in subdirs]) - deleted) < 1

        if is_empty and (initial_dir != directory or allow_initial_delete):
            if not quiet:
                print("{}: {}".format(message, directory))
            deleted.add(directory)
            if not dry_run:
                os.rmdir(directory)

def main():
    import argparse
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Remove empty directories recursively in subtree.")
    parser.add_argument("dir", metavar="DIR", type=str, nargs="+", help="directory to be searched")
    parser.add_argument("-r", "--allow-dir-removal", action="store_true", help="allow deletion of DIR itself")
    parser.add_argument("-i", "--ignore-nonexistent-dir", action="store_true", help="don't throw an error if DIR doesn't exist")
    parser.add_argument("-d", "--dry-run", action="store_true", help="only print messages, don't perform any removals")
    parser.add_argument("-q", "--quiet", action="store_true", help="don't print names of directories being removed")
    args = parser.parse_args()
    for directory in args.dir:
        remove_empty_directories(directory, args.allow_dir_removal, args.ignore_nonexistent_dir,
            args.dry_run, args.quiet)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()