How to delete a non-empty directory in Terminal?

Question

How do I delete the following directory?

I typed:

rmdir lampp

This error comes up:

rmdir: failed to remove `lampp': Directory not empty

Is there a command to delete all the files in the directory and delete the directory folder?

Answer 1

Use the below command :

rm -rf lampp

It deletes all files and folders contained in the lampp directory.

In case user doesn't have the permission to delete the folder:

Add sudo at the beginning of the command :

sudo rm -rf folderName

Otherwise, without sudo you will be returned permission denied. And it's a good practice to try not to use -f while deleting a directory:

sudo rm -r folderName

Note: this is assuming you are already on the same level of the folder you want to delete in terminal, if not:

sudo rm -r /path/to/folderName

FYI: you can use letters -f, -r, -v:

• -f = to ignore non-existent files, never prompt
• -r = to remove directories and their contents recursively
• -v = to explain what is being done

Answer 2

rm -R lampp

However, you need to be careful with this command, as it makes it easy to accidentally delete a lot more than you intended.

It is a good idea to always double-check which directory you're in, and whether you typed the command correctly, before pressing Enter.

Safer version

rm -R -i lampp

Adding -i makes it a little safer, because it will prompt you on every deletion. However, if you are deleting many files this is not going to be very practical. Still, you can try this first.

Note about -f option:

Many people suggest using -f (combining it into -Rf or -rf), claiming that it gets rid of annoying prompts. However, in normal cases I think it's best not to use it. When you use it, you won't be warned if your arguments supply a non-existing directory or file(s): rm will just silently fail to delete anything. It can be helpful in the specific case when you know you're going to delete a bunch of files that you do not have "write" permission for, and yet you do have write permission on the containing directory. Without -f, you'll be prompted for each such file removed. But even in this situation there are better ways than just to add the -f immediately. Firstly, start it without the -f: if there are problems with your arguments, then you'll notice. If you start getting too many prompts about files without write access, then Ctrl+C that and re-start it with the -f. Alternatively, run the command from a user (or the superuser using sudo) that does have write access to the file.

Answer 3

There are lots of ways to delete a directory through CLI mode. It depends on which way you are comfortable with.

rm -rvf /path/to/directory  

• -r = remove directories and their contents recursively
• -v = explain what is being done
• -f = ignore nonexistent files, never prompt

If you are new in Linux, use the man pages of commands (man rm) for more option and more accuracy.

Answer 4

I was having some trouble with that today, but I overcame it with sudo.

Caveat: Be very certain you want to delete the entire thing before using the command below.

$ sudo rm -R [Directory name]

I successfully did this today, and removed many non-empty directories that I confirmed I didn't want/need.

I'm using 14.04 LTS

Answer 5

By the way I personally wanted to delete a directory containing a write protected file/s (.git and sub directories) and eventually realised I also needed to become a super user in order to successfully delete these files. Here is what I did:

#became super user
sudo su -

#deleted contents of, and then the directory, harvey_snake/
rm -R harvey_snake/