Ubuntu Linux: Delete directory command in Terminal

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: October 24, 2007]

Q. Can you tell me command to delete a directory in terminal?

A. You need to use the rmdir utility / command. The rmdir utility removes the directory entry specified by each directory argument, provided it is empty. Arguments are processed in the order given. In order to remove both a parent directory and a subdirectory of that parent, the subdirectory must be specified first so the parent directory is empty when rmdir tries to remove it.

Remove / Delete directory called /tmp/foo

Open the terminal. Type the following command:
$ rmdir /tmp/foo

Recursive removal

Remove all files and directories (recursive removal):
$ rm -rf /path/to/directory $ rm -rf /tmp/foo

Please note that you can also pass -p option to rmdir command. Each directory argument is treated as a pathname of which all components will be removed, if they are empty, starting with the last most component:
$ rmdir -p /tmp/x/y/z

Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) Sapphire Blue

E-mail Print Can't find an answer to your question? Contact us