deleting folders with files

jayukanna · 08-21-2006, 01:11 AM

How do we delete folders which have files and subfolders?

I tried rmdir -p foldername.
this did'nt work.

I had moved a folder which had lots of subdirectories to a linux machine.
The last folder has lots of files too.

Iam unable to delete the parent folder.

Is there any method to force deletion?

Thanks,
Jayukanna

leandean · 08-21-2006, 01:14 AM

rm -r <dir>

man is your friend::

man rm

jayukanna · 08-21-2006, 03:14 AM

Thank you so much!

lordtweety · 08-21-2006, 04:42 AM

rm -rf <dir> Be warned, this command can be dangerous. It will indescriminately delete. I like installing windows on spare partitions just so I can use it.

Code:

# rm -rf /mnt/windows

Matir · 08-23-2006, 03:28 PM

The '-f' is unneccssary in many cases, use it only when needed (read-only files and dirs).