Linux rm non-interactive command

Question

I want to delete a directory with its files and I want to do that as follows:

rm -r dirToDelete\

Unfortunately, I always get asked for EACH single file if I want to delete this because it is write protected. Is there a way to suppress this feedback message so that just the whole directory with its contents disappears?

Answer 1

You want rm -rf.

From the rm man page:

-f, --force
              ignore nonexistent files, never prompt

Answer 2

Add -f e.g. rm -rf dirToDelete - but be careful to get the directory name right.

Note: this question isn't really programming related so really should be asked on superuser instead.

Answer 3

A lot of distros alias "rm" to "rm -i". Personally, I think that's the stupidest idea ever, so first do a "alias rm" to see if that's the case, or just verify if "/bin/rm" behaves differently. If it is, look in /etc/profile, /etc/profile.d, /etc/bashrc or your own .profile or .bashrc to see where it's set and remove it.

Answer 4

rm asks for confirmation because it's aliased to rm -i. To bypass the alias for a single command, add a backslash in front of the command:

\rm -r dirToDelete

For rm, you can also cancel out the -i with a -f:

rm -rf dirToDelete

Answer 5

I hope that rather soon distros which do

alias rm='rm -i`

switch to

alias rm='rm -I'

from the man page:

-I     prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing 
       recursively. Less intrusive than -i, while still giving protection 
       against most mistakes

I suggest you modify your .bashrc to still protect you from mistakes ;-)