How To Remove A Directory In Command Line From Ubuntu 22.04

Posted on by J OWL Farand

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:

  • The rm command removes complete directories, including subdirectories and files.
  • The rmdir command removes empty directories.

It is important to note that the rm and rmdir commands permanently remove directories without moving them to the Trash directory. This means that you cannot restore a directory removed using these commands.

If you want to remove an empty directory, add the -d flag to the rm command:

rm -d Example

If you want to remove a directory whose name starts with a hyphen (–), use the rm -- [directory name] or rm ./[directory name] syntax.

Use the -r flag to delete a directory that contains subdirectories and files.

rmdir Command

The Linux rmdir command removes empty directories only. The command uses the following syntax:

rmdir [options] [directory name]

The rmdir command includes the following options:

  • --ignore-fail-on-non-empty: Doesn’t show an error message when trying to remove a non-empty directory.
  • -p: Removes the directory along with its parent in the hierarchy.
  • -v: Provides a verbose output.
  • --help: Displays help text.
  • --version: Displays the command version.