Questions tagged [rm]

Questions relating to the Linux remove command (rm)

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
4 votes
1 answer
3k views

Difference between commands for removing empty directories

What is the difference between rm --dir <directory> and rmdir <directory> with respect to removing empty directories? Also, if they are similar, is there any advantage of having an rmdir ...
Rohith Madhavan's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
2k views

Recovering deleted files with rm -rf [duplicate]

I accidentally deleted a directory with rm -rf /media/directory When using ls -lh /media the space appears to be free, but when I use df or open the file manager nautilus or pantheon, it shows that ...
xquilt's user avatar
  • 117
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to prevent users from deleting files that are already in use?

Consider this scenario: User is executing a command on a file. This file becomes 'in-use' now. $ tail -f somefile.log In another shell, user deletes the file. $ rm somefile.log Now, this file is '...
Shaakunthala's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
4k views

What happens if we do rm -rf ../**? Can we restore the data?

I did something like: $ cd /A/B/ $ rm -rf ./* $ rm -rf ../** Due to network issues my system disconnected from Ubuntu. When I came back there were no files or folders in the /A folder.
xxz's user avatar
  • 39
3 votes
2 answers
16k views

Delete files older than 5 days as well as in all subfolders

I need to delete all files older than 5 days in all subfolders, but not the folders themselves. I know the command: find /path/to/files* -mtime +5 -exec rm {} \; But how can I tell Ubuntu to check ...
warhansen's user avatar
  • 222
3 votes
5 answers
2k views

Cannot delete Directory, doesn't exist?

Somehow this folder got created when i was logged in via sftp. "Sep 19 18:50 " I tried to delete it via sftp. Tried to SSH in and delete with rm -rf as root Error: rm /home/user/Downloads/manual/...
Keelan's user avatar
  • 149
3 votes
4 answers
12k views

How to delete all the files/folders from the folder except few folders?

Assume that I have a directory structure as follows: application │ ├── config │ ├── c1.conf │ └── c2.conf │ ├── logs │ ├── l1.txt │ └── l2.txt │ └── src ├── static ├── s1.py └── ...
exAres's user avatar
  • 253
3 votes
3 answers
4k views

Delete files within all directories in a directory

I recently needed to delete all the files within ~40 directories that were within a parent directory, without deleting the directories themselves. I ended up manually doing so, but is there a more ...
Red Icing's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

How to delete only archives with a script

I would like to remove all of the archives (.tar, .zip, etc) on my system. I know how to delete files using rm but I'm wondering if there is a command just for deleting the archives on my system (and ...
Christina's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
4k views

trash: cannot trash regular file

I'm trying to avoid using rm so I don't delete anything permanently. I'm using the utility function trash, but it keeps telling me trash: cannot trash regular file. Why can't I delete these files? ...
Hatshepsut's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
754 views

rm if there's a file with same basename

Say I have the following files: foo.coffee foo.js bar.js Is there an easy way how to rm *.js if there's a corresponding .coffee file? In the example such a command would remove foo.js leaving: foo....
mreq's user avatar
  • 4,812
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

File wont delete from trash even after sudo rm -rf ~/.local/share/Trash/

I've tried using sudo rm -rf ~/.local/share/Trash/files/ and even going myself as root doing the same, and recreating the folder its still there, it was from a pendrive at one point and I deleted it ...
Alex Poulos's user avatar
  • 1,544
3 votes
3 answers
5k views

remove pictures from folder

I want to remove all the photos from a folder and keep the remaining files. I searched in the web and I found a tons of solutions like: find . -type f -name "*.jpg" -delete All the photos are jpeg, ...
tito's user avatar
  • 33
3 votes
2 answers
5k views

Is it safe to alias rm to safe-rm?

We are happy to use safe-rm as a replacement to rm, but is it considered safe to alias it? e.g. alias rm='safe-rm'
Yoga's user avatar
  • 131
3 votes
1 answer
251 views

Why does the SSH session not die after rm -rf /?

Just for fun, on a VPS I was about to terminate anyway, I ran sudo rm -rf / --no-preserve-root and after that all commands, including /bin/bash returned command not found, which makes sense as ...
user8292439's user avatar
  • 3,808
3 votes
2 answers
4k views

Accidentally removed /var folder

I did something real dumb. I was creating tarballs of files in my /var/ folder. The tarball i created was put into /tmp/test.tar In the process of testing the extraction process, I meant to delete /...
dot's user avatar
  • 535
3 votes
1 answer
62k views

Restore Direcory/files after rm -rf [duplicate]

I've accidentally deleted a project directory from my Ubuntu with rm -rf. is it possible to restore them somehow?
Ali's user avatar
  • 536
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to remove a directory without a name?

ls -l output: drwxr-xr-x 10 mnevile mnevile 4.0K Sep 9 15:45 ​​ drwxrwxr-x 18 mnevile mnevile 4.0K Jun 16 16:01 movies/ drwxrwxr-x 16 mnevile mnevile 4.0K Aug 19 10:52 music/ drwxrwxr-x 16 mnevile ...
dragosrsupercool's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

how do i make shell ask for confimation for rm -rf command (even sudo)?

I want to make the command shell to prompt me for confirmation before execution of certain commands like dd , rm -rf etc.
juggernauthk108's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
7k views

Find folders of size lesser than x and delete them

I want to find all folders (within a folder) which are less than 100mb large and delete them. I actually don't want to use a bash script. But probably there is some neat one-line-loop possibility to ...
Brettetete's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
6k views

How to wipe all contents from my user account?

I'm on 12.04 desktop and was wondering if the following command would remove all the data from my user home directory as well as my trash can: rm -r /home/myUser/* If so, can someone confirm that ...
zharvey's user avatar
  • 1,785
3 votes
2 answers
6k views

Cannot delete .Trash-503 directory, returns a $RECYCLE.BIN.trashinfo: Input/output error

I cannot delete .Trash-503 folder via GUI or terminal, it returns a $RECYCLE.BIN.trashinfo: Input/output error Not even sudo rm -r or even a simple ls works in that trash directory. Check terminal ...
Parto's user avatar
  • 15.3k
2 votes
3 answers
6k views

recursively delete subdirectories and files [duplicate]

I have the following files and directories configuration: -Parent_dir |-delme_dir |-delme_file |-aFile |-sub_dir |-delme_dir |-delme_file |-aFile |-...
Loay Ashmawy's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Remove except some files/directories in a script; need revision

I have the same problem as this question How to delete all the files/folders from the folder except few folders? several times. This is the reason why I wanted to write myself a script for a command ...
mcocdawc's user avatar
  • 177
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Home folder contents lost: wrong use of rm?

I am using Ubuntu-Mate 20.04 and I have lost most of the contents of my home folder. I think it could be due to using wrongly the “rm” command with sudo, but not sure if it might be something else. I ...
ubuntu_user2340's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
17k views

How to make a script delete a directory after checking for its existence?

How might one make a bash script which when run will check for the existence of a file/folder and if the file/folder is there remove it?
It's Willem's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Delete all files from within a directory that contain a specific word

I have navigated to a specific directory on the file system and wish to delete all files within the directory that contain 'sofa_' in their file name. Can someone please suggest how this can be done?
YorkieMagento's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
6k views

Giving cat output to rm

I have file names in a file which I need to delete in a different directory. Let's say I have x and y files in dir a. How do I delete it using cat? I tried, rm -f a/{`cat a.txt`} a.txt has ...
Optimus Prime's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
2k views

Protection For rm

I sometimes work with my server over ssh. I don't want to lose anything because of an accidental rm. Is there a way of creating a trashbin for my server? I know it sounds stupid, but I just want to ...
user1652575's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

rm -i alias not working with sudo as root

I have noticed in all my Ubuntu servers the alias rm -i is ignored when you run sudo rm * as root. Is there something in sudo that is causing this behavior? I know you don't need to use sudo when you ...
user36225's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Terminal command to remove unknown file

What is the command to remove unknown file from terminal. Edit after following answer: Example: I have two files يا مهدي- Times-يا محمد Events.html مهدي Events.html how do i only first file?
Zafrullah Syed's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
4k views

Removing folders older than 5 days

I have a backup folder than uses a calendar like folder structure to organise files. I want to delete these every 5 days but I end up deleting the full backup because the main folder is older than 5 ...
Stuart's user avatar
  • 23
2 votes
1 answer
3k views

Can a directory's mtime be older than that of file inside?

I have this very silly and very basic question but I thought better to ask before I start pruning my NAS. I want to delete all directories in which all files are older than 30 days. For files I ...
dragosrsupercool's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
9k views

"sudo rm" fails to delete files

My main account is called "u1204" and I have some files created with another account called "dad": $ find . -user dad -print ./Documents/Zim Notes/.zim/state.conf ./Documents/Zim Notes (DAD)/.zim/...
Thorsen's user avatar
  • 856
2 votes
1 answer
96 views

I followed a solution procedure on AskUbuntu, logged out and now all my data is gone (no guest account)

I did the following to get Skype to recognise my headset microphone (which was not working), as shown as a solution on a question on this website: rm -rf ~/.config/pulse/ Log out Log back in go to ...
Bea's user avatar
  • 95
2 votes
2 answers
496 views

Accidentally moved `/tmp` - replacements won't persist

I did sudo mv /tmp /var/lib/apt/lists not realizing that it would move the whole folder and not just the contents. I since do (as suggested in Accidentally deleted tmp folder) sudo mkdir -m 1777 /tmp ...
user2740's user avatar
  • 1,087
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

glob expansion suddenly not working properly in loops

I am trying to run: for i in *; do sudo rm $i; done The problem is that there is something wrong with glob expansion and I get the error: rm: cannot remove '*': No such file or directory I get ...
mchid's user avatar
  • 43.5k
2 votes
1 answer
15k views

Cannot delete .git directory

I try to run sudo rm -rf .git/ but the terminal return the following message: rm: cannot remove ‘.git/objects/pack/pack-3818f69fa7bd64ef22c94c0bf630c18333cd5da9.idx’: Operation not permitted rm: ...
marcelo2605's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Folder recovery with rm command

I deleted /bin folder from computer in Ubuntu with rm command. How can recover it ?
Neda Mohammadi's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
385 views

remove file with -h_some_file_name in shell [duplicate]

I have a problem when trying removing a file with name something like -h_some_file_name, this is because of generated script that I made and forget to check the prefix. If I run the command rm '-...
whale_steward's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
2k views

how to remove image files that are smaller than certain dimensions

I have already found an answer that lists pretty much everything. Except I cannot get it to work. I use: find . -iname "*.jpg" -type f | xargs -I{} identify -format '%w %h %i' {} | awk '$1<...
Julio Sitges's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
10k views

How can I delete a corrupted directory? (`rm: cannot remove 'directory': Bad message`)

I am in a mounted VeraCrypt volume and have a corrupted directory that I wish to delete. When I attempt to rm the directory, I get a message like the following: rm: cannot remove 'directory': Bad ...
BlandCorporation's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
154 views

how do delete file called \\.\pipe\FC_{6D57D5C3-9CEA-4497-BE57-9E544137A437}_1

I somehow got this file \.\pipe\FC_{6D57D5C3-9CEA-4497-BE57-9E544137A437}_1 on my home dir. Tried deleting with rm and tab completion using the following prefixes: ./\ ./\. ./\.\p but it seems to ...
CIsForCookies's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
839 views

When moving a directory to another file system, and it runs out of space, are files removed?

Given /mnt/source/ and /mnt/target/ which are two different places / filesystems. mv /mnt/source/dir /mnt/target/ It runs out of space part-way (and stops) Imagining that /mnt/source/dir is full ...
spiralofhope's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
271 views

dpkg is confused since I manually removed installation files for spotify with sudo rm recursive

So I was reading to learn on how packages and package installation works in Ubuntu in general and where do the files responsible for the existence of any application (installation files) reside in my ...
Ramy Farid's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
112 views

Remove list of files from different subfolders

I have a folder (call "folder"), composed of different subfolders ("subfolder1", "subfolder2",...). I would like to remove a list of files in all the subfolder of "folder", while some files are ...
steve's user avatar
  • 331
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Find packages which files got deleted or missing after installation

I just accidentally did rm -r /var but luckily managed to ^C it before more damages were done. Is there way to find out all packages which files got deleted in the location so I can reinstall them? % ...
Flint's user avatar
  • 3,141
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

How to delete /dev folder that is accidentaly copied to external hdd?

I have accidentally copied the entire contents of root to my external hard drive because of using wrong syntax of cp. I have deleted the rest leaving /dev folder. Using rm results to "device busy" and ...
X3Melectro's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
862 views

When is it safe to delete the contents of /tmp and /var/tmp?

I'm trying to make a locked down, auto-restoring system that will restore itself once every week. I'm wondering if /tmp and /var/tmp can be safely removed if the system is booted on a different ...
naedozi's user avatar
  • 21
2 votes
0 answers
59 views

rm -r /media/externalHD --> can't boot without external HD anymore

My external HD was mounted in /media/user/TRANSFER. By mistake I typed sudo rm -r /media/theo/TRANSFER There was an error because the device was occupied and fortunately, I haven't lost my data. ...
Theova's user avatar
  • 41