I have a few files stuck on my server. Is there a super user delete command that will kill a directory and everything in it? If I try and delete the files one by one it says they are in use? I do have root access.

Whats the directory you want to delete?

rm -rf /path/to/dir/

Originally posted by CipherVendor
rm -rf /path/to/dir/

Hello,

rmdir /path/to/dir/ is the correct command to remove a directory.

But "rm -rf /path/to/dir/" works also :D

Thanks the rm -rf worked, the standard rmdir wouldn't work I had tried that.

In most implementations of unix I've seen rmdir requires an empty directory. Which is probably why it didn't work. rm with -r (recursive) and -f (force - ie no prompting) is required when files or subdirectories exist inside the directory.

Originally posted by labgeek
In most implementations of unix I've seen rmdir requires an empty directory. Which is probably why it didn't work. rm with -r (recursive) and -f (force - ie no prompting) is required when files or subdirectories exist inside the directory.

Yes rmdir requires an empty directory.