[SOLVED] Can't delete file(s) in Slackware?

hopkinskong · 08-04-2011, 02:51 PM

Hello,

I can't delete files in my Slackware, i tried three times, i select the files, then SHIFT+DELETE, and the notification told me the file deleted, but when i go to the root of my filesystem, it still:

0 B free of 2.5GiB (100% used)

I have checked the trash folder, ~/.local/share/Trash/files, /.Trash-0, /.local/share/Trash/files, all are empty

Any solution?

Thanks

T3RM1NVT0R · 08-04-2011, 02:57 PM

Hi there,

Welcome to LQ!!!

Did you try deleting the files from command line?

Code:

rm -r -f filename

or if you want to delete files of particular type say pdf files then use the following command:

Code:

rm -r -f *.pdf

I am quite curious to know what type of files they are and what is their size?

Run

Code:

ls -l

on the directory where they reside[/code]

hopkinskong · 08-04-2011, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T3RM1NVT0R

Hi there,

Welcome to LQ!!!

Did you try deleting the files from command line?

Code:

rm -r -f filename

or if you want to delete files of particular type say pdf files then use the following command:

Code:

rm -r -f *.pdf

I am quite curious to know what type of files they are and what is their size?

Run

Code:

ls -l

on the directory where they reside[/code]

No i haven't tried that yet, but i want to free up my space first lol

I cleared all the files in /boot, and all files in /tmp

I have turned off that machine now, ls -l should output total:x files, right? if yes, it returned total: 0 files

T3RM1NVT0R · 08-04-2011, 03:07 PM

What you deleted all files under /boot

How did you manage to boot then ;-)

If you run ls -l it will return total: 0 if there are not files in there.

And yes by suggesting to you to run rm command I was trying to help you in clearing up the space.

hopkinskong · 08-04-2011, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T3RM1NVT0R

What you deleted all files under /boot

How did you manage to boot then ;-)

If you run ls -l it will return total: 0 if there are not files in there.

And yes by suggesting to you to run rm command I was trying to help you in clearing up the space.

I am booting from some kind of "external bootloader with custom kernel"...
I'll try removing files from console tomorrow...

btw, where the "deleted" files go? Why my space still can't free up by using "SHIFT+DELETE"?

MTK358 · 08-04-2011, 06:02 PM

I don't know about whare your trashed files go, but when you delete from the command line using "rm", they're gone for good (they are actually deleted, not moved to a trash directory).

devnull10 · 08-04-2011, 11:48 PM

With all due respect, do you know exactly what you are doing? I'd be extremely wary about just clearing files out, especially those from folders like /boot.

hopkinskong · 08-05-2011, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devnull10

With all due respect, do you know exactly what you are doing? I'd be extremely wary about just clearing files out, especially those from folders like /boot.

Yes, i know what i am doing,i am using custom kernel, so the /boot files are useless, btw, i will try to remove kernel modules using rm -R later

EDIT: rm command works, it free up my disk space, but where is my previously "deleted" file? how to actually delete them?

Thanks.

onebuck · 08-05-2011, 08:12 AM

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

As other LQ members have stated: once you use the 'rm' command then the files are unlinked/removed. You can sometimes recover files with other utilities but be forewarned that you cannot always recover without due effort.

(Linux is Not Windows) Refers to the GNU/Linux OS and various Free & Open-Source Software (FOSS) projects under the catch-all name of "Linux".

If you wish to learn what a command does then use 'man command' from the 'cli'. So 'man rm' will explain;

Quote:

rm - remove files or directories

SYNOPSIS
rm [OPTION]... FILE...

DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents the GNU version of rm. rm removes each specified file.
By default, it does not remove directories.

If the -I or --interactive=once option is given, and there are more than three
files or the -r, -R, or --recursive are given, then rm prompts the user for whether
to proceed with the entire operation. If the response is not affirmative, the
entire command is aborted.

Otherwise, if a file is unwritable, standard input is a terminal, and the -f or
--force option is not given, or the -i or --interactive=always option is given, rm
prompts the user for whether to remove the file. If the response is not affirma-
tive, the file is skipped.

OPTIONS
Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).

-f, --force
ignore nonexistent files, never prompt

-i prompt before every removal

-I prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing recur-
sively. 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
do not remove `/' (default)

-r, -R, --recursive
remove directories and their contents recursively

-v, --verbose
explain what is being done

--help display this help and exit

--version
output version information and exit

By default, rm does not remove directories. Use the --recursive (-r or -R) option
to remove each listed directory, too, along with all of its contents.
....

Just a few links to aid you to gaining some understanding;

  1 Linux Documentation Project 
2 Rute Tutorial & Exposition 
3 Linux Command Guide  
4 Bash Beginners Guide 
5 Bash Reference Manual 
6 Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide 
7 Linux Newbie Admin Guide 
8 LinuxSelfHelp 
9 Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
10 Linux Home Networking
11 Virtualization- Top 10

The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

hopkinskong · 08-05-2011, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onebuck

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

As other LQ members have stated: once you use the 'rm' command then the files are unlinked/removed. You can sometimes recover files with other utilities but be forewarned that you cannot always recover without due effort.

(Linux is Not Windows) Refers to the GNU/Linux OS and various Free & Open-Source Software (FOSS) projects under the catch-all name of "Linux".

If you wish to learn what a command does then use 'man command' from the 'cli'. So 'man rm' will explain;
Just a few links to aid you to gaining some understanding;

  1 Linux Documentation Project 
2 Rute Tutorial & Exposition 
3 Linux Command Guide  
4 Bash Beginners Guide 
5 Bash Reference Manual 
6 Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide 
7 Linux Newbie Admin Guide 
8 LinuxSelfHelp 
9 Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
10 Linux Home Networking
11 Virtualization- Top 10

The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

yes, linux is not windows, but i just want to know how to COMPLETLY DELETE my files?
yes, rm is a way, but how do i remove a file permanently using Dolphin?
And where are my files i deleted? I am not going to recover it, i want to COMPLETLY DELETE it FROM THE DISK to REDUCE my harddisk space, cuz it still using my space now!

EDIT: I think u have misunderstand me:

Quote:

previously "deleted"

It refers to the files that i deteted using "SHIFT+DELETE", it still using up my harddisk space, not rm command

Thanks

devnull10 · 08-05-2011, 12:14 PM

If you use the rm command then it unlinks the file so the space becomes "free", in the sense that it is available for overwriting. It makes no odds as to whether the file is physically deleted or not. If you are trying to remove sensitive information then consider using the shred command.

hopkinskong · 08-05-2011, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devnull10

If you use the rm command then it unlinks the file so the space becomes "free", in the sense that it is available for overwriting. It makes no odds as to whether the file is physically deleted or not. If you are trying to remove sensitive information then consider using the shred command.

So how to "free" up my space, cuz my "space" won't "free" up when i use SHIFT+DELETE, the files have disappeared in the folder, but the space still won't "free" up, i can't add new things to my harddrive because it is full!

T3RM1NVT0R · 08-05-2011, 02:01 PM

As you said in your previous posts that you have deleted the file from the location but system still shows that the partition is 100% full. You checked if the files are there in trash but they were not there.

Option that you can go with is run find to look for those files (suppose they were .doc or .pdf files) and then delete them. Command you can use is:

Code:

find / -name *.doc -print

The above command will print the files. Check and confirm if these are the files you want to delete. If yes, then run the command mentioned below:

Code:

find / -name *.doc -print -delete

Fyi: I tried this on my Ubuntu 10.04 and CentOS 5.5 and shift+delete does delete the file permanently but both of them uses nautilus not dolphin. I will try on Linux Mint 10 and will let you know if it works the same way.

hopkinskong · 08-05-2011, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T3RM1NVT0R

As you said in your previous posts that you have deleted the file from the location but system still shows that the partition is 100% full. You checked if the files are there in trash but they were not there.

Option that you can go with is run find to look for those files (suppose they were .doc or .pdf files) and then delete them. Command you can use is:

Code:

find / -name *.doc -print

The above command will print the files. Check and confirm if these are the files you want to delete. If yes, then run the command mentioned below:

Code:

find / -name *.doc -print -delete

Fyi: I tried this on my Ubuntu 10.04 and CentOS 5.5 and shift+delete does delete the file permanently but both of them uses nautilus not dolphin. I will try on Linux Mint 10 and will let you know if it works the same way.

I tried to updatedb then locate that file, but i can't find it anymore, it just like that file has disappeared but it still using up your hardrive space

MTK358 · 08-05-2011, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T3RM1NVT0R

The above command will print the files. Check and confirm if these are the files you want to delete. If yes, then run the command mentioned below:

Code:

find / -name *.doc -print -delete

Remember, that will delete every single *.doc file on your system, which is probably not what you want.