November 20th, 2003, 02:14 AM
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problem of removing subdirectory of a directory
I find out cannot remove the directory that contain file and another subdirectory by using command
rmdir -f dir_name
so, everytime i hv to clear out the content of directory in order to delete the directory. So, anyone can teach me how to solve this problem? thanks~
November 20th, 2003, 11:42 AM
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rm has this option. See man rm for all options
rm -rf dir_name
-r, -R, --recursive
remove the contents of directories recursively
-f, --force
ignore nonexistent files, never prompt
A warning: linux (and unix) are relentless, they do what you ask and don'y ask if you are sure!
November 20th, 2003, 06:35 PM
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druuna, thanks again~
I am a beginner of Unix OS, so i still not familiar with those command..
By the way, u r a very good tutor for me~ Have a nice day!
December 6th, 2003, 11:28 PM
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One small addition, You need to use "rm -rf" cautiously, if you tend to give "rm -rRf" * then the whole of the files from the root directory will be gets deleted. You better give rm -ri rather than rm -rf
-i option will ask for confirmation before deleting the files
Regards
JK
December 7th, 2003, 01:09 AM
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It will ask for confirmation if you don't include -i or -f. If you know what you are doing, -f is a better solution especially if you have a lot of files, as it would be very annoying to have to say yes many times needlesly.