Which of the following commands will delete a directory?
Removing a directory in Linux is a pretty simple task if you are using the GUI. However, if you don't have access to the GUI, you can also remove directories using terminal commands. Show In this tutorial, we will show you how to remove a directory in Linux via commands in the terminal window or command line. Prerequisites
How to Remove a Directory in Linux?There are two Linux commands you can use to remove a directory from the terminal window or command line:
It is important to note that the 3 and 4 commands permanently remove directories without moving them to the Trash directory. This means that you cannot restore a directory removed using these commands.Note: Even though 3 and 4 permanently remove files and directories, users with enough skill and time still have a chance of restoring some of the removed files. If you want to learn more about removing files permanently, have a look at our shred command tutorial.rm CommandThe 3 command in Linux removes files and directories.It uses the following syntax:
Note: To remove multiple files or directories using the 3 command, add multiple file or directory names, separated by blank spaces.The different 3 command options include:
Trying to use the 3 command without any options to remove a directory results in an error message:If you want to remove an empty directory, add the 6 flag to the 3 command:
Note: If you want to remove a directory whose name starts with a hyphen (-), use the 3 or 4 syntax.The example below shows that the 3 command with the - 6 flag removes the Example directory:Use the 5 flag to delete a directory that contains subdirectories and files.The image below shows the tree hierarchy of the Example directory, which contains Dir1 and Dir2 subdirectories, with multiple text files in each: Using the 5 flag removes the entire directory, including subdirectories and files, while the 7 flag lists each step of the process as the output:
The 3 option displays a prompt asking you to confirm directory removal. Type 1 and press Enter to confirm.
Write-protected directories require user input when deleting. Create such a directory with:
To remove the directory, use:
Type Y and press Enter to confirm deletion. To avoid the confirmation, use the 2 flag or elevate the command privileges to sudo:
If the write-protected directory contains other files and directories, use the following command:
The Linux 4 command removes empty directories only. The command uses the following syntax:
The 4 command includes the following options:
Using the 4 command on a non-empty directory produces an error:In this case, the Example directory contains the Test subdirectory: To remove these directories using the 4 command, add them in reverse order of hierarchy. Using the 7 option lists each step of the process as the output: 0A simpler method of doing this is to use the 6 option with the subdirectory's name. This removes both the subdirectory and its hierarchical parent: 1The 4 command allows you to remove multiple directories with similar names using wildcards. For instance, if you want to remove directories named Example1, Example2, and Example3: 2Conclusion After reading this tutorial, you should be able to remove directories in Linux using commands in the terminal window or command line. What is the command to delete a directory?Use the rmdir command to remove the directory, specified by the Directory parameter, from the system. The directory must be empty (it can contain only . and ..) before you can remove it, and you must have write permission in its parent directory.
Which of the following command is used to delete files and directories?The rm command is used to delete files.
What is the command to delete a directory Mcq?Explanation: To delete all files in a directory, use (*) with rm command.
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