Linux · file management

rmdir

remove an empty directory

rmdir deletes a directory and refuses if anything is still inside it. That refusal is the point: it cannot destroy files by accident, which rm -r can.

The safe way to remove a directory: it only works when there is nothing to lose.

Removes

Empty directories

and nothing else

If not empty

An error

nothing is deleted

Parents too

-p

a/b/c, then a/b, then a

For full ones

rm -r

with care

At the terminal

Read the session first, then the notes: each numbered line in the output is answered by the note with the same number.

user@netflow — bashcoreutils

$ rmdir old-reports

1$ rmdir project

2rmdir: failed to remove 'project': Directory not empty

3$ ls -a project

. .. .gitignore

4$ rmdir -pv a/b/c

rmdir: removing directory, 'a/b/c'

rmdir: removing directory, 'a/b'

rmdir: removing directory, 'a'

Illustrative session · names, sizes and dates are examples, and every address is from a documentation or private range

Reading the output

What the numbered lines are telling you

Success is silent

old-reports was empty and is gone. Like most commands, rmdir prints nothing when it works.

A directory with contents is refused

Nothing was removed. The error is the safety feature doing its job.

It looked empty, but was not

A hidden file was inside. ls -a shows dot files; plain ls would have shown nothing.

-p removes the chain

Each directory is removed once the one inside it has gone, as long as each is empty in turn.

Switches

A switch changes how the command behaves. These are the ones used day to day; man rmdir lists the rest. Single-letter switches can usually be joined, so -l -a may be written -la.

-p: Parents: remove each directory in the path as it becomes empty.
-v: Verbose: print each directory removed.
--ignore-fail-on-non-empty: Do not report an error for directories that are not empty.

Variations worth knowing

The same tool, pointed at a narrower question. These four cover most of what it is reached for day to day.

rmdir dir1 dir2 dir3

Removes several empty directories at once.

find . -type d -empty -delete

Removes every empty directory beneath the current one.

rmdir --ignore-fail-on-non-empty */

Removes the empty ones and stays quiet about the rest.

rm -r project

Removes a directory and all its contents — the tool for when it is not empty.

In cybersecurity

Choosing rmdir over rm -r is a habit that prevents accidents.

Prefer it in scripts

A cleanup script that uses rmdir fails loudly if a directory unexpectedly has contents, instead of deleting them.

Empty directories still matter

A mount point is an empty directory. Removing it makes the mount fail at next boot.

Removal needs write on the parent

What decides whether you may remove a directory is the permission on the directory that contains it, not on the directory itself.

Filed under

File management

Read alongside

mkdirCreates directories — one at a time, or a whole nested path in a single step with -p.rmRemoves files, and with -r whole directory trees. There is no recycle bin: what it removes is gone.