What command to delete all files and subfolders, but not root folder ?

proleader · 09-14-2011, 04:31 AM

Hello,

What command to delete all files and subfolders, but not root folder ?

Example:
Folder A has: folder B, folder C, ... and files
How to delete everything in folder A but not delete folder A?

ButterflyMelissa · 09-14-2011, 05:03 AM

enter folder A then issue:

Quote:

rmdir -R folderB

Luck, and, be carefull what you delete. Alternatively (and safer) - delete from the desktop and recover fron the dustbin when needed, if you did'nt have to do that for a while, then delete the dustbin...

Thor

Blackened Justice · 09-14-2011, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by proleader

Hello,

What command to delete all files and subfolders, but not root folder ?

Example:
Folder A has: folder B, folder C, ... and files
How to delete everything in folder A but not delete folder A?

I would cd into Folder A and then rm -r *
That should do the trick.

David the H. · 09-14-2011, 11:37 AM

Or if you don't want to cd first, just include the path to the parent directory.

Code:

rm -r ./directoryA/*
rm -r /full/path/to/directoryA/*

Read here for more on globbing:
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/glob

And a similar recent thread in which I posted about a new globbing feature:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...command-902529

And finally, for more complex stuff, use find.
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/UsingFind
http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Find.html

(PS: "folder" is the Windows term. *nix uses "directory".

)

wcampos · 09-14-2011, 03:42 PM

Well this looks fine:

rm -r /full/path/to/directoryA/*

I will just add the option -f

rm -Rf /full/path/to/directoryA/* and this will delete all inside directoryA without erasing the root directory

---------- Post added 09-14-11 at 02:43 PM ----------

Well this looks fine:

rm -r /full/path/to/directoryA/*

I will just add the option -f

rm -Rf /full/path/to/directoryA/* and this will delete all inside directoryA without erasing the root directory

proleader · 09-15-2011, 11:00 AM

I will try these commands.
Thank you!

samtoddler · 09-15-2011, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by proleader

I will try these commands.
Thank you!

Please mark it as solved if you got the solution..

samtoddler

rahulkya · 09-15-2011, 12:27 PM

add i to see what are the files your command is deleting..

Quote:

rm -rfi *

Quote:

Don't forget to cd into that directory which you want empty

Mark this as solved as suggested above ..

samtoddler · 09-15-2011, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rahulkya

add i to see what are the files your command is deleting..

Mark this as solved as suggested above ..

just add "-v" switch to the mentioned command this makes the command verbose.

Code:

cd <directory>
rm -rvf *

samtoddler

rahulkya · 09-15-2011, 02:25 PM

Thanks Sam, you clarified my POST...
Adding i will prompt for deletion ....
And adding v will show file being deleted

samtoddler · 09-16-2011, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rahulkya

Thanks Sam, you clarified my POST...
Adding i will prompt for deletion ....
And adding v will show file being deleted

Hi,

I think you can get all your questions answered by just one single command

Code:

rm --help
or man rm

for the query you mentioned

remove -f switch from the

Code:

rm -rvf

samtoddler