How to Remove a Directory in Linux (rmdir and rm -r)

Applies to: rmdir and rm on Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux and other Linux systems

Linux has two commands for deleting folders: rmdir for empty folders and rm -r for folders with files in them. There is no recycle bin on the command line, so a deleted folder is gone. We tested the commands below on Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13 and AlmaLinux 9.

Remove an empty folder

rmdir old-folder

If the folder isn’t empty you get rmdir: failed to remove 'old-folder': Directory not empty, which makes rmdir a safe choice.

Remove a folder and everything in it

rm -r old-folder           # remove the folder, its files and subfolders
rm -ri old-folder          # ask before removing each item
rm -rf old-folder          # no questions, also removes write-protected files

Use -f only when you are sure of the path. Before running it, check what you are about to delete:

ls -la old-folder
du -sh old-folder

Remove only the files inside a folder

rm old-folder/*                         # files only (not hidden ones or subfolders)
find old-folder -mindepth 1 -delete     # everything inside, keep the folder

Safety tips

• Double-check paths that start with /, and never run rm -rf with a variable that could be empty: if $DIR is empty, rm -rf "$DIR"/* becomes rm -rf /*. In scripts, use "${DIR:?}", which stops with an error when the variable is empty.
• Take a backup first when deleting website or database folders.
• “Permission denied” means you don’t own the files; use sudo only if you are sure they should go.

In cPanel

In File Manager, select the folder and click Delete. It goes to the Trash (which still uses disk space) unless you tick Skip the trash and permanently delete the files.

More: what the rm -rf command does and how to find and remove folders recursively.