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I tried to move a file into the rubbish bin (because I followed some instructions about installing sage and it involved moving a file to that directory) and it gave me errors saying that I didn't have permission. Even though I'm signed in as an administrator.

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1 Answer

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Open a terminal with Ctrl-Alt-T and Use sudo like this.

cd /usr/local/src
sudo rm ./file-name

If you want to delete the entire content of a folder, you should use -r switch. like this:

cd /usr/local/src
sudo rm -r ./folder-name

Please, make sure you aren't deleting any system files. Also double check the file and folder name before hitting Enter key.

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I recommend never to use rm -r with a path containing a /. If you accidentally type a space in the middle, you might end up deleting the whole /usr tree or something. Rather, change to the parent directory first: cd /usr/local/src, check that it succeeded, sudo rm -r folder-name. – Gilles Sep 28 '12 at 17:22
@Gilles thanks. edited as suggested – Anwar Sep 28 '12 at 17:24
Thanks a heap you two! You've done me a great service! – Brenton Horne Sep 28 '12 at 17:36
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@BrentonHorne Can you consider accepting the answer? – Anwar Sep 28 '12 at 17:37
@BrentonHorne you can do this by clicking the gray tick icon at the left side of the answer. – Anwar Sep 28 '12 at 17:38
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