hi i am new at this linux system,i have been copying dvd's and now i do not have enough room in my temporary folder,but i cannot find out how to delete the folders and make space to continue,if you can help sorry but a step by step guide it will have to be,i would appreciate it very much,thanks Dave

Greetingz!

Well, for starters I'm going to assume you know how to open a "terminal" (you might have to look around for a shortcut).

Once you find the "terminal", you're going to type some "commands", okay?

The first command is this

cd /tmp

That "changes directory" (cd) to the "/tmp" directory.

Then you're going to ask the system which directories within the /tmp directory are the biggest, by typing the following command;

du -k * | sort -rn | head -n 11

That will give you the top 11 directories, sorted by size.

From there you will use a very, very, very, dangerous command (if used improperly)

rm -r directory_name

The "rm" command deletes things (rm = remove). However, this isn't Windows-land anymore, Davey, so there is NO Recycle Bin.

When you delete something via the "rm" command, it's gone. For good.

To learn more about the "cd" "du" "sort" "head" and "rm" commands, just type the following at the command line;

man command_name


On a side note, there's a few things about forums you should read up on; I have links within my "Signature" (the bottom of my post) to a few peices of documentation you may find very helpful in the near future.

Also, please keep in mind that we *love* to know when we've been helpful, and would appreciate it if you marked any helpful posts.

Cheers!

2 members found this post helpful.

xeleema has pointed you in the right direction, but my first question back at you would be:

How would you have done this on your previous system? (ie if you were in MS Windows (assuming this is previous experience) how would you have done it there)

I don't see why you find it impossible to remove them, unless the files are owned by root. Open your /tmp directory, select the files, right-click, "move to trash". Note: the space won't be freed until the trash can is emptied.

Um, Xeleema, perhaps you should check your signature block. It doesn't contain any links, course my eyes might be getting old and missed something.

Tom

Great effort in post number 2, xeleema, the following command is really helpful for me !

@tommyttt
My apologies, the text is quite small.
If you do a Ctrl-F in your browser, then search for the following (without quotes);
"posting for great justice!"

Then your browser should highlight the line that has the links.
The first link is to the Linux-specific section of Google (it's *awesome!*), and the second is to Eric S. Raymond's "How to Ask Questions The Smart Way", which although a lengthy read, gives valuable insight into how we human beings interact with one another within the faceless ether that is the Internet.

There's also a link above those two called "It's the brand-spanking new Reputation system!", which links to the FAQ section on what those little green boxes under our names mean.

@anishakaul
I typically have that command as an alias within my .bashrc / .bash_profile / .profile / .kshrc.
I call it "ducks", as it's easy to remember and type!

If anyone has any other UNIX, Linux, or Internet "101" type links, I'll check them out and add them to my signature (as space allows).

Have a good one everybody!

tommyttt

It is time to update the last sentence of your signature Isn't it ??