Can't delete directory - question marks showing in ls -l

Anup D. · 10-30-2012, 10:54 PM

On CentOS 5.8 I want to delete one directory.
When I type ls -l it shows :
?--------- ? ? ? ? ? locales

It doesn't allow me to rename, move, copy, delete, chown, chgrp, chmod it.
Every command shows only "No such file or directory"

I don't know why this "?" symbol it is showing in permissions.
What can I do to delete this directory?

jsaravana87 · 10-30-2012, 10:58 PM

whether you are trying to delete the directory with root priviledge ? are normal user ? I guess you dont have priviledge for listing & delete permission for the directory

Anup D. · 10-30-2012, 11:07 PM

It is a Virtuozzo container. I am trying to delete it with root user.

Valery Reznic · 10-31-2012, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anup D.

On CentOS 5.8 I want to delete one directory.
When I type ls -l it shows :
?--------- ? ? ? ? ? locales

It doesn't allow me to rename, move, copy, delete, chown, chgrp, chmod it.
Every command shows only "No such file or directory"

I don't know why this "?" symbol it is showing in permissions.
What can I do to delete this directory?

Likely your filesystem corrupted.

Try to run fsck

Valery

linosaurusroot · 10-31-2012, 03:25 PM

If the problem was only the name I'd suggest "ls -lb".
The filename may contain non-printing characters that have messed up the output you are reading.
If that's right then something like "rm -ri ./*locales" may work.

With the permissions also looking odd I agree with the suggestion to fsck.

Anup D. · 10-31-2012, 10:55 PM

Thank you for reply.

I tried ls -lb command it shows locales directory name in red background:
# ls -lb
?--------- ? ? ? ? ? locales

and command "rm -ri ./*locales" also giving the same error
# rm -ri ./*locales
rm: cannot lstat `./locales': No such file or directory.

It is live container with number of live clients.
fsck does not affect data ?

rknichols · 11-01-2012, 09:49 AM

You cannot run fsck on a mounted file system. You will have to arrange a scheduled maintenance time, take the file system offline, and clean it up. You have a slightly (hopefully!) corrupted file system. There is little other choice for repairing it.