remove all directories and sub-directories


 
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# 1  
Old 08-21-2008
remove all directories and sub-directories

Please could someone advise me the unix command to remove all directories and sub-directories with files within the directory structures.

Thank you
# 2  
Old 08-21-2008
first get the path of the directory u need to delete...

for ex:
consider 'tmp' is the directory to b deleted
/home/user85/tmp

then from your home directory..,,, use

rm -ir /home/user85/tmp/ --- for deleting interactively
# 3  
Old 08-21-2008
Try this ...

You can also do


rm -r <directory_name>
# 4  
Old 08-22-2008
You can also try

rm -rf directoryname

ex : rm -rf /home/jeff/sydney

This will remove all directories and sub directories recursively.
# 5  
Old 08-25-2008
venhart

I recommend sydney2008 way of deleting directories that are not empty.
But if you want an interactive way of deletion you may use saravanan.mr.

although deleting interactively if the safest way to do because it will prompt you a confirmation before doing a deletion.
# 6  
Old 08-25-2008
To delete one or more files or directories recursively and forcing deletion of write-protected files:
Code:
rm -Rf /your/directory

If you're not so sure what arguments to use, take a look at the man pages for the command:
Code:
man rm

# 7  
Old 08-25-2008
And as a side-note, if you are on a Red-Hat based system, or any system that aliases rm to rm -i then to not expand the alias prepend a backslash in front of the command i.e.

\rm -r dir-to-delete
 
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