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command to Delete a Directory

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scient

IS-IT--Management
Oct 24, 2007
15
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Hi guys..

Whats the command to remove the directory and its contents , because
When I try to remove a directory it saying the following msgs

server01/root: /home/county/ > ls
cpu , memory , snap

here above 3 of them are directories and each has bunch of log files and they have no internal directories all
in that directories are files

server01/root: /home/county> rmdir cpu
rmdir: 0653-611 Directory cpu is not empty.

Can u guys tell me the command to remove that directory and contents at a time rather than deleting each and
Every file in that directory first and delete that directory later..

Thank you,

 
The method that I prefer to use for removing directories is this:

cd into directory to be removed
do a recursive delete
cd back one level
remove the directory

or in code
Code:
cd /some/dir
pwd     # verify I am where I think I am
rm -rf *
cd ..
rmdir /some/dir

when doing a recurive delete (rm -rf), be 200% sure you are in the correct location and really mean it. Be another 200% sure if you are doing this as root.

Add a little color to your PUTTY terminal: faq52-6627
 
oh yesss rm -r * is a very dangerous command that will make you stay for weekends restoring your data! Been there! Done that!

Regards,
Khalid
 
And when you get the error message
Code:
Unable to delete unix: file in use
it's party time!

I speak from bitter experience - but I always reckon that unless you've got at lease one similar tale you're not a real admin.

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy
 
Oh yes, I've done it. I had just gotten done reviewing this with a junior admin - he asked why I type pwd so much. 10 minutes later, the junior admin did that exact thing I warned him about. He thought I was going to fire him on the spot - just told him to get the tapes, restore and DONT do it again.

Add a little color to your PUTTY terminal: faq52-6627
 
So next week I'm going to make myself an LPAR and rm -rf * the thing, just so I can count me in with you guys. ;-)

I've done my share of repairing these mistakes though.

Better yet, I'm going to load that LPAR with AIX6 and create a WPAR to fool around with...



HTH,

p5wizard
 
thank you guys....

i used rm -rf * ..it deleted all files in the subdirectory ...

once again appreciated your help...

this is good forum..i like it
 
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