Linux command remove all but

How to remove non empty Directory in Linux

The following commands works with CentOS, RHEL, Fedora, Alpine, Arch, Debian, Ubuntu and all other Linux distros. Let us see some examples.

Procedure to remove non empty directory in Linux

We use the rm command to delete a directory that is not empty. The syntax is:
rm -rf dir-name
rm -rf /path/to/dir/name
Be careful when you use the rm command with -r and -f options. The -r option remove directories and their contents recursively including all files. The -f option to rm command ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt for anything. There is no undo option. So you have to be very careful with rm -rf command. Let us see some examples.

Examples for removing non empty directory under Linux

Trying to remove trip-pictures directory with the rmdir command in Linx:
rmdir trip-pictures
Sample outputs:

To see files inside the directory use ls command ls -l trip-pictures
ls trip-pictures
To delete all files inside trip-pictures including folder itself run the following rm command:
rm -rf trip-pictures

How to get visual confirmation about deleting directory

Pass the -v to the rm command:
rm -vrf dir1
rm -vrf dir1 dir2
Sample outputs:

How to get confirmation prompt before every removal of a dir

You need to pass the -i option to the rm command:
rm -ir foo
Sample outputs:

To get prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing recursively; less intrusive than -i , while still giving protection against most mistakes pass the -I option:
rm -Ir bar
Sample outputs:

Want to get info on all rm and rmdir switches? Try:
rm —help
rmdir —help

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Conclusion

You learned how to remove non empty directory under Linux or Unix-like operating systems using command line options. For more information see rm command and rmdir command command man pages by typing the following man command command:
man rm
man rmdir

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Linux Delete All Files In Directory Using Command Line

Linux Delete All Files In Directory

The procedure to remove all files from a directory:

1. Open the terminal application
2. To delete everything in a directory run: rm /path/to/dir/*
3. To remove all sub-directories and files: rm -r /path/to/dir/*

Let us see some examples of rm command to delete all files in a directory when using Linux operating systems.

How to remove all the files in a directory?

Suppose you have a directory called /home/vivek/data/. To list files type the ls command:
$ ls

Understanding rm command option that deleted all files in a directory

• -r : Remove directories and their contents recursively.
• -f : Force option. In other words, ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt. Dangerous option. Be careful.
• -v : Verbose option. Show what rm is doing on screen.

Deleting hidden vs non-hidden files

In Linux, any file or directory that starts with a dot character called a dot file. It is to be treated as hidden file. To see hidden files pass the -a to the ls command:
ls
ls -a
ls -la
To remove all files except hidden files in a directory use:
rm /path/to/dir/*
rm -rf /path/to/dir/*
rm *
In this example, delete all files including hidden files, run:
rm -rf /path/to/dir1/<*,.*>
rm -rfv /path/to/dir1/

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Bash remove all files from a directory including hidden files using the dotglob option

If the dotglob option set, bash includes filenames beginning with a ‘.’ in the results of pathname expansion. In other words, turn on this option to delete hidden files:

See GNU/bash man page for the shopt command online here:
man bash
help shopt

Linux Remove All Files In Directory

As I said earlier one can use the unlink command too. The syntax is:
unlink filename
For example, delete file named foo.txt in the current working directory, enter:
unlink foo.txt
It can only delete a single file at a time. You can not pass multiple files or use wildcards such as *. Therefore, I strongly recommend you use the rm command as discussed above.

Conclusion

In this quick tutorial, you learned how to remove or delete all the files in a directory using the rm command. Linux offers a few more options to find and delete files. Please see the following tutorials:

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How To: Linux / UNIX delete a file using rm command

H ow do I delete a file under a Linux / UNIX / *BSD / AIX / HP-UX operating system using command line options?

To remove or delete a file or directory in Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, macOS, or Unix-like operating systems, use the rm command or unlink command. This page explains how to delete a given file on a Linux or Unix like system using the command line option.

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	No
Requirements	rm and unlink command on Linux or Unix
Est. reading time	4 minutes

Syntax: rm command to remove a file

rm (short for remove) is a Unix / Linux command which is used to delete files from a filesystem. Usually, on most filesystems, deleting a file requires write permission on the parent directory (and execute permission, in order to enter the directory in the first place). The syntax is as follows to delete the specified files and directories:

• -f : Forcefully remove file
• -r : Remove the contents of directories recursively

When rm command used just with the file names, rm deletes all given files without confirmation by the user.

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Warning : Be careful with filenames as Unix and Linux, by default, won’t prompt for confirmation before deleting files. Always keep verified backups of all critical files and data.

Unix Remove or delete a file example

Say you have a file named abc.txt and you want to remove it:
$ rm abc.txt

Linux delete multiple files

Delete three files named foo.mp4, bar.doc, and demo.txt, run:

Linux recursively delete all files

Remove all files and sub-directories from a directory (say deltree like command from MS-DOS world), enter:
$ rm -rf mydir

Linux delete a file and prompt before every removal

To request confirmation before attempting to remove each file pass the -i option to the rm command:
$ rm -i filename
Sample outputs:

Gif 01: rm command demo

Force rm command to explain what is being done with file

Pass the -v option as follows:
$ rm -v moiz.list.txt bios-updates.doc
removed ‘moiz.list.txt’
removed ‘bios-updates.doc’

How to delete empty directories

To remove empty directory use rmdir command and not the rm command:
$ rmdir mydirectory
$ rmdir dirNameHere
$ rmdir docs

How to read a list of all files to delete from a text file

The rm command is often used in conjunction with xargs to supply a list of files to delete. Create a file called file.txt:
$ cat file.txt
List of to delete:

Now delete all file listed in file.txt, enter:
$ xargs rm

How do I delete a file named -foo.txt or a directory named -bar?

To delete a file called -foo.txt :
rm — -foo.txt
OR
rm — ./-foo.txt
To delete a directory called -bar :
rm -r -f — -bar
The two — dashes tells rm command the end of the options and rest of the part is nothing but a file or directory name begins with a dash.

Never run rm -rf / as an administrator or normal UNIX / Linux user

WARNING! These examples will delete all files on your computer if executed.

$ rm -rf /
$ rm -rf *

rm -rf (variously, rm -rf /, rm -rf *, and others) is frequently used in jokes and anecdotes about Unix disasters. The rm -rf / variant of the command, if run by an administrator, would cause the contents of every writable mounted filesystem on the computer to be deleted. Do not try these commands.

Conclusion

You learned how to delete files on Linux and Unix-like operating systems. Here are all important options for GNU rm command (read man page here)

Remove files command summary

Option	Description
-f	Ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt
-i	Prompt before every file removal
-I	Prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing recursively; less intrusive than -i, while still giving protection against most mistakes —interactive[=WHEN] prompt according to WHEN: never, once (-I), or always (-i); without WHEN, prompt always
—one-file-system	when removing a hierarchy recursively, skip any directory that is on a file system different from that of the corresponding command line argument
—no-preserve-root	do not treat ‘/’ specially
—preserve-root[=all]	do not remove ‘/’ (default); with ‘all’, reject any command line argument on a separate device from its parent
-r	remove directories and their contents recursively
-R	same as above
-d	rmove empty directories
-v	Explain what is being done

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How to remove files and directories quickly via terminal (bash shell) [closed]

Want to improve this question? Update the question so it’s on-topic for Stack Overflow.

Closed 6 years ago .

From terminal window:

When I use the rm command it can only remove files.
When I use the rmdir command it only removes empty folders.

If I have a directory nested with files and folders within folders with files and so on, is there any way to delete all the files and folders without all the strenuous command typing?

If it makes a difference, I am using the mac bash shell from terminal, not Microsoft DOS or linux.

4 Answers 4

-r «recursive» -f «force» (suppress confirmation messages)

Would remove everything (folders & files) in the current directory.

But be careful! Only execute this command if you are absolutely sure, that you are in the right directory.

Yes, there is. The -r option tells rm to be recursive, and remove the entire file hierarchy rooted at its arguments; in other words, if given a directory, it will remove all of its contents and then perform what is effectively an rmdir .

The other two options you should know are -i and -f . -i stands for interactive; it makes rm prompt you before deleting each and every file. -f stands for force; it goes ahead and deletes everything without asking. -i is safer, but -f is faster; only use it if you’re absolutely sure you’re deleting the right thing. You can specify these with -r or not; it’s an independent setting.

And as usual, you can combine switches: rm -r -i is just rm -ri , and rm -r -f is rm -rf .

Also note that what you’re learning applies to bash on every Unix OS: OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, etc. In fact, rm ‘s syntax is the same in pretty much every shell on every Unix OS. OS X, under the hood, is really a BSD Unix system.

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How to remove all files from a directory?

The closest I’ve gotten is

but that doesn’t work for files that don’t have an extension.

9 Answers 9

Linux does not use extensions. It is up to the creator of the file to decide whether the name should have an extension. Linux looks at the first few bytes to figure out what kind of file it is dealing with.

To remove all non-hidden files* in a directory use:

However, this will show an error for each sub-directory, because in this mode it is only allowed to delete files.

To remove all non-hidden files and sub-directories (along with all of their contents) in a directory use:

* Hidden files and directories are those whose names start with . (dot) character, e.g.: .hidden-file or .hidden-directory/ . Note that, in Bash, if the dotglob option (which is off by default) is set, rm will act on hidden files too, because they will be included when * is expanded by the shell to provide the list of filename arguments.

To remove a folder with all its contents (including all interior folders):

To remove all the contents of the folder (including all interior folders) but not the folder itself:

or, if you want to make sure that hidden files/directories are also removed:

To remove all the «files» from inside a folder(not removing interior folders):

Warning: if you have spaces in your path, make sure to always use quotes.

is equivalent to 2 separate rm -rf calls:

To avoid this issue, you can use ‘ single-quotes ‘ (prevents all expansions, even of shell variables) or » double-quotes » (allows expansion of shell variables, but prevents other expansions):

• rm — stands for remove
• -f — stands for force which is helpful when you don’t want to be asked/prompted if you want to remove an archive, for example.
• -r — stands for recursive which means that you want to go recursively down every folder and remove everything.

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