What does the rmdir command do

15.08.2023

22:00

The rmdir command in Linux is used to delete empty directories (folders). It only deletes directories that do not contain any subdirectories or files. If a directory is not empty, rmdir will display an error message and will not delete it.

Examples of how to use the command

Using the rmdir command:

rmdir <director_name>

Example:

rmdir directory_name

Some options for the rmdir command are:

-p: allows you to delete a directory and its parent directories if they remain empty after deletion.
--ignore-fail-on-non-empty: allows you to ignore an error message if the directory is not empty.
--verbose: displays detailed information about the directory deletion process.

Note: Be careful when using the rmdir command because it does not perform file or directory recovery after deletion

How to install

There is no need to install the rmdir command, as it is built-in to most Linux distributions.

If for some reason the rmdir command is missing or unavailable on your system, you can install it as follows:

Make sure you have superuser (root) or administrator privileges.
Open a terminal or console and run the following command depending on your distribution.
For Debian-based distributions (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc.):
```
sudo apt-get install coreutils
```
For Red Hat-based distributions (Fedora, CentOS, etc.):
```
sudo dnf install coreutils
```
or
```
sudo yum install coreutils
```
For Arch Linux-based distributions (Manjaro, etc.):
```
sudo pacman -S coreutils
```
After running the install command, the rmdir command should be available and ready to use.

Note that the rmdir command may also be available in other packages, so you can use your distribution's package manager to find and install a package containing this command.

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What the rmdir command does

Examples of how to use the command

How to install

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