How to remove all empty directories in a subtree?












138















How can I remove all empty directories in a subtree? I used something like



find . -type d -exec rmdir {} 2>/dev/null ;


but I needs to be run multiple times in order to remove directories containing empty directories only. Moreover, it's quite slow, especially under cygwin.










share|improve this question

























  • See also emacs.stackexchange.com/q/12190/2264 for an emacs solution.

    – Sean Allred
    May 6 '15 at 15:13
















138















How can I remove all empty directories in a subtree? I used something like



find . -type d -exec rmdir {} 2>/dev/null ;


but I needs to be run multiple times in order to remove directories containing empty directories only. Moreover, it's quite slow, especially under cygwin.










share|improve this question

























  • See also emacs.stackexchange.com/q/12190/2264 for an emacs solution.

    – Sean Allred
    May 6 '15 at 15:13














138












138








138


35






How can I remove all empty directories in a subtree? I used something like



find . -type d -exec rmdir {} 2>/dev/null ;


but I needs to be run multiple times in order to remove directories containing empty directories only. Moreover, it's quite slow, especially under cygwin.










share|improve this question
















How can I remove all empty directories in a subtree? I used something like



find . -type d -exec rmdir {} 2>/dev/null ;


but I needs to be run multiple times in order to remove directories containing empty directories only. Moreover, it's quite slow, especially under cygwin.







directory find rm






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Mar 1 '11 at 22:08









Gilles

541k12810941610




541k12810941610










asked Mar 1 '11 at 21:48









maaartinusmaaartinus

1,85652124




1,85652124













  • See also emacs.stackexchange.com/q/12190/2264 for an emacs solution.

    – Sean Allred
    May 6 '15 at 15:13



















  • See also emacs.stackexchange.com/q/12190/2264 for an emacs solution.

    – Sean Allred
    May 6 '15 at 15:13

















See also emacs.stackexchange.com/q/12190/2264 for an emacs solution.

– Sean Allred
May 6 '15 at 15:13





See also emacs.stackexchange.com/q/12190/2264 for an emacs solution.

– Sean Allred
May 6 '15 at 15:13










5 Answers
5






active

oldest

votes


















195














Combining GNU find options and predicates, this command should do the job:



find . -type d -empty -delete




  • -type d restricts to directories


  • -empty restricts to empty ones


  • -delete removes each directory


The tree is walked from the leaves without the need to specify -depth as it is implied by -delete.






share|improve this answer





















  • 1





    -delete already implies -depth so you don't need to specify that manually.

    – jamadagni
    Sep 19 '14 at 2:31











  • Thanks, I didn't realize that. Answer updated.

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Sep 19 '14 at 15:57






  • 8





    I would add -mindepth 1 here, to prevent from deleting the starting directory itself, if it would be empty.

    – Greg Dubicki
    Aug 20 '16 at 12:49






  • 1





    Great, but doesn't work on my old SunOS hosts...

    – dokaspar
    Aug 8 '17 at 10:05






  • 1





    ! has a special meaning for the shell. You need to escape it. Something like: ! -name 'Completed' just before -delete should work. Or you just put a marker file in this directory.

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Apr 2 '18 at 8:34



















51














List the directories deeply-nested-first.



find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} ; 2>/dev/null


(Note that the redirection applies to the find command as a whole, not just to rmdir. Redirecting only for rmdir would cause a significant slowdown as you'd need to invoke an intermediate shell.)



You can avoid running rmdir on non-empty directories by passing the -empty predicate to find. GNU find tests the directory when it's about to run the command, so directories that have just been emptied will be picked up.



find . -depth -type d -empty -exec rmdir {} ;


Another way to speed up would be to group the rmdir invocations. Both are likely to be noticeably faster than the original, especially under Cygwin. I don't expect much difference between these two.



find . -depth -type d -print0 | xargs -0 rmdir 2>/dev/null
find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} + 2>/dev/null


Which method is faster depends on how many non-empty directories you have. You can't combine -empty with methods for grouping invocations, because then the directories that only contain empty directories aren't empty by the time find looks at them.



Another method would be to run multiple passes. Whether this is faster depends on a lot of things, including whether the whole directory hierarchy can remain in the disk cache between find runs.



while [ -n "$(find . -depth -type d -empty -print -exec rmdir {} +)" ]; do :; done


Alternatively, use zsh. The glob qualifier F matches non-empty directories, so /^F matches empty directories. Directories that only contain empty directories can't be matched so easily.



while rmdir **/*(/N^F); do :; done


(This terminates when rmdir receives an empty command line.)






share|improve this answer


























  • That's it. Instead of 90 seconds it takes 0.90 s.

    – maaartinus
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:14













  • @maaartinus: I'm curious: do you have a similar data set where you could try without -p? I wouldn't have thought it would make a difference.

    – Gilles
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:15






  • 3





    @maartinus — other little optimizations: adding -empty should work with this one (although I'm not sure exactly how much it'll gain). And very, very trivially, since you probably don't want to remove ., use -mindepth 1.

    – mattdm
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:19











  • It was not the removal but the process start up overhead, what took nearly all the time. I had overlooked the -depth argument, which makes rmdir -p useless. I've changed my comment already. The 90 s was my original attempt; there's nothing surprising here.

    – maaartinus
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:20






  • 2





    I realized we can remove the rmdir command call altogether, at least with GNU find, with this command: find . -depth -type d -empty -delete

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Jan 2 '14 at 14:26





















6














If you just tack a -p on your rmdir, that'll work in one pass. It won't be pretty or optimal, but it should get everything. That tells rmdir to remove any non-empty parent directories of the one you're removing.



You can save a little bit by adding the -empty test to find, so it doesn't bother with non-empty directories.






share|improve this answer

































    2














    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} +



    is the simplest and standard compliant answer to this question.



    The other answers given here unfortunately all depend on vendor specific enhancements that do not exist on all systems.






    share|improve this answer



















    • 2





      This answer raises an error for each directory that cannot be deleted which may be less than desirable.

      – Willem van Ketwich
      Apr 13 '17 at 0:04



















    -1














    rm -r */ command worked easily for me. rm should require -f to forcefully remove directories with files. rm -r should only remove empty directories. I'm open to why this could be wrong. This should also leave files since */ only looks at folders.






    share|improve this answer
























    • I'd strongly recommend to test it thoroughly first as rm is primarily meant to remove files. While */ only matches directories, I have no idea what it does on deeper levels. I can also imagine that it works on some systems only.

      – maaartinus
      Jun 22 '18 at 19:30











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    5 Answers
    5






    active

    oldest

    votes








    5 Answers
    5






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    195














    Combining GNU find options and predicates, this command should do the job:



    find . -type d -empty -delete




    • -type d restricts to directories


    • -empty restricts to empty ones


    • -delete removes each directory


    The tree is walked from the leaves without the need to specify -depth as it is implied by -delete.






    share|improve this answer





















    • 1





      -delete already implies -depth so you don't need to specify that manually.

      – jamadagni
      Sep 19 '14 at 2:31











    • Thanks, I didn't realize that. Answer updated.

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Sep 19 '14 at 15:57






    • 8





      I would add -mindepth 1 here, to prevent from deleting the starting directory itself, if it would be empty.

      – Greg Dubicki
      Aug 20 '16 at 12:49






    • 1





      Great, but doesn't work on my old SunOS hosts...

      – dokaspar
      Aug 8 '17 at 10:05






    • 1





      ! has a special meaning for the shell. You need to escape it. Something like: ! -name 'Completed' just before -delete should work. Or you just put a marker file in this directory.

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Apr 2 '18 at 8:34
















    195














    Combining GNU find options and predicates, this command should do the job:



    find . -type d -empty -delete




    • -type d restricts to directories


    • -empty restricts to empty ones


    • -delete removes each directory


    The tree is walked from the leaves without the need to specify -depth as it is implied by -delete.






    share|improve this answer





















    • 1





      -delete already implies -depth so you don't need to specify that manually.

      – jamadagni
      Sep 19 '14 at 2:31











    • Thanks, I didn't realize that. Answer updated.

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Sep 19 '14 at 15:57






    • 8





      I would add -mindepth 1 here, to prevent from deleting the starting directory itself, if it would be empty.

      – Greg Dubicki
      Aug 20 '16 at 12:49






    • 1





      Great, but doesn't work on my old SunOS hosts...

      – dokaspar
      Aug 8 '17 at 10:05






    • 1





      ! has a special meaning for the shell. You need to escape it. Something like: ! -name 'Completed' just before -delete should work. Or you just put a marker file in this directory.

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Apr 2 '18 at 8:34














    195












    195








    195







    Combining GNU find options and predicates, this command should do the job:



    find . -type d -empty -delete




    • -type d restricts to directories


    • -empty restricts to empty ones


    • -delete removes each directory


    The tree is walked from the leaves without the need to specify -depth as it is implied by -delete.






    share|improve this answer















    Combining GNU find options and predicates, this command should do the job:



    find . -type d -empty -delete




    • -type d restricts to directories


    • -empty restricts to empty ones


    • -delete removes each directory


    The tree is walked from the leaves without the need to specify -depth as it is implied by -delete.







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited Sep 19 '14 at 15:57

























    answered Jan 2 '14 at 14:34









    Christophe Drevet-DroguetChristophe Drevet-Droguet

    2,40211011




    2,40211011








    • 1





      -delete already implies -depth so you don't need to specify that manually.

      – jamadagni
      Sep 19 '14 at 2:31











    • Thanks, I didn't realize that. Answer updated.

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Sep 19 '14 at 15:57






    • 8





      I would add -mindepth 1 here, to prevent from deleting the starting directory itself, if it would be empty.

      – Greg Dubicki
      Aug 20 '16 at 12:49






    • 1





      Great, but doesn't work on my old SunOS hosts...

      – dokaspar
      Aug 8 '17 at 10:05






    • 1





      ! has a special meaning for the shell. You need to escape it. Something like: ! -name 'Completed' just before -delete should work. Or you just put a marker file in this directory.

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Apr 2 '18 at 8:34














    • 1





      -delete already implies -depth so you don't need to specify that manually.

      – jamadagni
      Sep 19 '14 at 2:31











    • Thanks, I didn't realize that. Answer updated.

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Sep 19 '14 at 15:57






    • 8





      I would add -mindepth 1 here, to prevent from deleting the starting directory itself, if it would be empty.

      – Greg Dubicki
      Aug 20 '16 at 12:49






    • 1





      Great, but doesn't work on my old SunOS hosts...

      – dokaspar
      Aug 8 '17 at 10:05






    • 1





      ! has a special meaning for the shell. You need to escape it. Something like: ! -name 'Completed' just before -delete should work. Or you just put a marker file in this directory.

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Apr 2 '18 at 8:34








    1




    1





    -delete already implies -depth so you don't need to specify that manually.

    – jamadagni
    Sep 19 '14 at 2:31





    -delete already implies -depth so you don't need to specify that manually.

    – jamadagni
    Sep 19 '14 at 2:31













    Thanks, I didn't realize that. Answer updated.

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Sep 19 '14 at 15:57





    Thanks, I didn't realize that. Answer updated.

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Sep 19 '14 at 15:57




    8




    8





    I would add -mindepth 1 here, to prevent from deleting the starting directory itself, if it would be empty.

    – Greg Dubicki
    Aug 20 '16 at 12:49





    I would add -mindepth 1 here, to prevent from deleting the starting directory itself, if it would be empty.

    – Greg Dubicki
    Aug 20 '16 at 12:49




    1




    1





    Great, but doesn't work on my old SunOS hosts...

    – dokaspar
    Aug 8 '17 at 10:05





    Great, but doesn't work on my old SunOS hosts...

    – dokaspar
    Aug 8 '17 at 10:05




    1




    1





    ! has a special meaning for the shell. You need to escape it. Something like: ! -name 'Completed' just before -delete should work. Or you just put a marker file in this directory.

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Apr 2 '18 at 8:34





    ! has a special meaning for the shell. You need to escape it. Something like: ! -name 'Completed' just before -delete should work. Or you just put a marker file in this directory.

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Apr 2 '18 at 8:34













    51














    List the directories deeply-nested-first.



    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} ; 2>/dev/null


    (Note that the redirection applies to the find command as a whole, not just to rmdir. Redirecting only for rmdir would cause a significant slowdown as you'd need to invoke an intermediate shell.)



    You can avoid running rmdir on non-empty directories by passing the -empty predicate to find. GNU find tests the directory when it's about to run the command, so directories that have just been emptied will be picked up.



    find . -depth -type d -empty -exec rmdir {} ;


    Another way to speed up would be to group the rmdir invocations. Both are likely to be noticeably faster than the original, especially under Cygwin. I don't expect much difference between these two.



    find . -depth -type d -print0 | xargs -0 rmdir 2>/dev/null
    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} + 2>/dev/null


    Which method is faster depends on how many non-empty directories you have. You can't combine -empty with methods for grouping invocations, because then the directories that only contain empty directories aren't empty by the time find looks at them.



    Another method would be to run multiple passes. Whether this is faster depends on a lot of things, including whether the whole directory hierarchy can remain in the disk cache between find runs.



    while [ -n "$(find . -depth -type d -empty -print -exec rmdir {} +)" ]; do :; done


    Alternatively, use zsh. The glob qualifier F matches non-empty directories, so /^F matches empty directories. Directories that only contain empty directories can't be matched so easily.



    while rmdir **/*(/N^F); do :; done


    (This terminates when rmdir receives an empty command line.)






    share|improve this answer


























    • That's it. Instead of 90 seconds it takes 0.90 s.

      – maaartinus
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:14













    • @maaartinus: I'm curious: do you have a similar data set where you could try without -p? I wouldn't have thought it would make a difference.

      – Gilles
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:15






    • 3





      @maartinus — other little optimizations: adding -empty should work with this one (although I'm not sure exactly how much it'll gain). And very, very trivially, since you probably don't want to remove ., use -mindepth 1.

      – mattdm
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:19











    • It was not the removal but the process start up overhead, what took nearly all the time. I had overlooked the -depth argument, which makes rmdir -p useless. I've changed my comment already. The 90 s was my original attempt; there's nothing surprising here.

      – maaartinus
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:20






    • 2





      I realized we can remove the rmdir command call altogether, at least with GNU find, with this command: find . -depth -type d -empty -delete

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Jan 2 '14 at 14:26


















    51














    List the directories deeply-nested-first.



    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} ; 2>/dev/null


    (Note that the redirection applies to the find command as a whole, not just to rmdir. Redirecting only for rmdir would cause a significant slowdown as you'd need to invoke an intermediate shell.)



    You can avoid running rmdir on non-empty directories by passing the -empty predicate to find. GNU find tests the directory when it's about to run the command, so directories that have just been emptied will be picked up.



    find . -depth -type d -empty -exec rmdir {} ;


    Another way to speed up would be to group the rmdir invocations. Both are likely to be noticeably faster than the original, especially under Cygwin. I don't expect much difference between these two.



    find . -depth -type d -print0 | xargs -0 rmdir 2>/dev/null
    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} + 2>/dev/null


    Which method is faster depends on how many non-empty directories you have. You can't combine -empty with methods for grouping invocations, because then the directories that only contain empty directories aren't empty by the time find looks at them.



    Another method would be to run multiple passes. Whether this is faster depends on a lot of things, including whether the whole directory hierarchy can remain in the disk cache between find runs.



    while [ -n "$(find . -depth -type d -empty -print -exec rmdir {} +)" ]; do :; done


    Alternatively, use zsh. The glob qualifier F matches non-empty directories, so /^F matches empty directories. Directories that only contain empty directories can't be matched so easily.



    while rmdir **/*(/N^F); do :; done


    (This terminates when rmdir receives an empty command line.)






    share|improve this answer


























    • That's it. Instead of 90 seconds it takes 0.90 s.

      – maaartinus
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:14













    • @maaartinus: I'm curious: do you have a similar data set where you could try without -p? I wouldn't have thought it would make a difference.

      – Gilles
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:15






    • 3





      @maartinus — other little optimizations: adding -empty should work with this one (although I'm not sure exactly how much it'll gain). And very, very trivially, since you probably don't want to remove ., use -mindepth 1.

      – mattdm
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:19











    • It was not the removal but the process start up overhead, what took nearly all the time. I had overlooked the -depth argument, which makes rmdir -p useless. I've changed my comment already. The 90 s was my original attempt; there's nothing surprising here.

      – maaartinus
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:20






    • 2





      I realized we can remove the rmdir command call altogether, at least with GNU find, with this command: find . -depth -type d -empty -delete

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Jan 2 '14 at 14:26
















    51












    51








    51







    List the directories deeply-nested-first.



    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} ; 2>/dev/null


    (Note that the redirection applies to the find command as a whole, not just to rmdir. Redirecting only for rmdir would cause a significant slowdown as you'd need to invoke an intermediate shell.)



    You can avoid running rmdir on non-empty directories by passing the -empty predicate to find. GNU find tests the directory when it's about to run the command, so directories that have just been emptied will be picked up.



    find . -depth -type d -empty -exec rmdir {} ;


    Another way to speed up would be to group the rmdir invocations. Both are likely to be noticeably faster than the original, especially under Cygwin. I don't expect much difference between these two.



    find . -depth -type d -print0 | xargs -0 rmdir 2>/dev/null
    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} + 2>/dev/null


    Which method is faster depends on how many non-empty directories you have. You can't combine -empty with methods for grouping invocations, because then the directories that only contain empty directories aren't empty by the time find looks at them.



    Another method would be to run multiple passes. Whether this is faster depends on a lot of things, including whether the whole directory hierarchy can remain in the disk cache between find runs.



    while [ -n "$(find . -depth -type d -empty -print -exec rmdir {} +)" ]; do :; done


    Alternatively, use zsh. The glob qualifier F matches non-empty directories, so /^F matches empty directories. Directories that only contain empty directories can't be matched so easily.



    while rmdir **/*(/N^F); do :; done


    (This terminates when rmdir receives an empty command line.)






    share|improve this answer















    List the directories deeply-nested-first.



    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} ; 2>/dev/null


    (Note that the redirection applies to the find command as a whole, not just to rmdir. Redirecting only for rmdir would cause a significant slowdown as you'd need to invoke an intermediate shell.)



    You can avoid running rmdir on non-empty directories by passing the -empty predicate to find. GNU find tests the directory when it's about to run the command, so directories that have just been emptied will be picked up.



    find . -depth -type d -empty -exec rmdir {} ;


    Another way to speed up would be to group the rmdir invocations. Both are likely to be noticeably faster than the original, especially under Cygwin. I don't expect much difference between these two.



    find . -depth -type d -print0 | xargs -0 rmdir 2>/dev/null
    find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} + 2>/dev/null


    Which method is faster depends on how many non-empty directories you have. You can't combine -empty with methods for grouping invocations, because then the directories that only contain empty directories aren't empty by the time find looks at them.



    Another method would be to run multiple passes. Whether this is faster depends on a lot of things, including whether the whole directory hierarchy can remain in the disk cache between find runs.



    while [ -n "$(find . -depth -type d -empty -print -exec rmdir {} +)" ]; do :; done


    Alternatively, use zsh. The glob qualifier F matches non-empty directories, so /^F matches empty directories. Directories that only contain empty directories can't be matched so easily.



    while rmdir **/*(/N^F); do :; done


    (This terminates when rmdir receives an empty command line.)







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited Aug 25 '12 at 22:42

























    answered Mar 1 '11 at 22:08









    GillesGilles

    541k12810941610




    541k12810941610













    • That's it. Instead of 90 seconds it takes 0.90 s.

      – maaartinus
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:14













    • @maaartinus: I'm curious: do you have a similar data set where you could try without -p? I wouldn't have thought it would make a difference.

      – Gilles
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:15






    • 3





      @maartinus — other little optimizations: adding -empty should work with this one (although I'm not sure exactly how much it'll gain). And very, very trivially, since you probably don't want to remove ., use -mindepth 1.

      – mattdm
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:19











    • It was not the removal but the process start up overhead, what took nearly all the time. I had overlooked the -depth argument, which makes rmdir -p useless. I've changed my comment already. The 90 s was my original attempt; there's nothing surprising here.

      – maaartinus
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:20






    • 2





      I realized we can remove the rmdir command call altogether, at least with GNU find, with this command: find . -depth -type d -empty -delete

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Jan 2 '14 at 14:26





















    • That's it. Instead of 90 seconds it takes 0.90 s.

      – maaartinus
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:14













    • @maaartinus: I'm curious: do you have a similar data set where you could try without -p? I wouldn't have thought it would make a difference.

      – Gilles
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:15






    • 3





      @maartinus — other little optimizations: adding -empty should work with this one (although I'm not sure exactly how much it'll gain). And very, very trivially, since you probably don't want to remove ., use -mindepth 1.

      – mattdm
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:19











    • It was not the removal but the process start up overhead, what took nearly all the time. I had overlooked the -depth argument, which makes rmdir -p useless. I've changed my comment already. The 90 s was my original attempt; there's nothing surprising here.

      – maaartinus
      Mar 1 '11 at 22:20






    • 2





      I realized we can remove the rmdir command call altogether, at least with GNU find, with this command: find . -depth -type d -empty -delete

      – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
      Jan 2 '14 at 14:26



















    That's it. Instead of 90 seconds it takes 0.90 s.

    – maaartinus
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:14







    That's it. Instead of 90 seconds it takes 0.90 s.

    – maaartinus
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:14















    @maaartinus: I'm curious: do you have a similar data set where you could try without -p? I wouldn't have thought it would make a difference.

    – Gilles
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:15





    @maaartinus: I'm curious: do you have a similar data set where you could try without -p? I wouldn't have thought it would make a difference.

    – Gilles
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:15




    3




    3





    @maartinus — other little optimizations: adding -empty should work with this one (although I'm not sure exactly how much it'll gain). And very, very trivially, since you probably don't want to remove ., use -mindepth 1.

    – mattdm
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:19





    @maartinus — other little optimizations: adding -empty should work with this one (although I'm not sure exactly how much it'll gain). And very, very trivially, since you probably don't want to remove ., use -mindepth 1.

    – mattdm
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:19













    It was not the removal but the process start up overhead, what took nearly all the time. I had overlooked the -depth argument, which makes rmdir -p useless. I've changed my comment already. The 90 s was my original attempt; there's nothing surprising here.

    – maaartinus
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:20





    It was not the removal but the process start up overhead, what took nearly all the time. I had overlooked the -depth argument, which makes rmdir -p useless. I've changed my comment already. The 90 s was my original attempt; there's nothing surprising here.

    – maaartinus
    Mar 1 '11 at 22:20




    2




    2





    I realized we can remove the rmdir command call altogether, at least with GNU find, with this command: find . -depth -type d -empty -delete

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Jan 2 '14 at 14:26







    I realized we can remove the rmdir command call altogether, at least with GNU find, with this command: find . -depth -type d -empty -delete

    – Christophe Drevet-Droguet
    Jan 2 '14 at 14:26













    6














    If you just tack a -p on your rmdir, that'll work in one pass. It won't be pretty or optimal, but it should get everything. That tells rmdir to remove any non-empty parent directories of the one you're removing.



    You can save a little bit by adding the -empty test to find, so it doesn't bother with non-empty directories.






    share|improve this answer






























      6














      If you just tack a -p on your rmdir, that'll work in one pass. It won't be pretty or optimal, but it should get everything. That tells rmdir to remove any non-empty parent directories of the one you're removing.



      You can save a little bit by adding the -empty test to find, so it doesn't bother with non-empty directories.






      share|improve this answer




























        6












        6








        6







        If you just tack a -p on your rmdir, that'll work in one pass. It won't be pretty or optimal, but it should get everything. That tells rmdir to remove any non-empty parent directories of the one you're removing.



        You can save a little bit by adding the -empty test to find, so it doesn't bother with non-empty directories.






        share|improve this answer















        If you just tack a -p on your rmdir, that'll work in one pass. It won't be pretty or optimal, but it should get everything. That tells rmdir to remove any non-empty parent directories of the one you're removing.



        You can save a little bit by adding the -empty test to find, so it doesn't bother with non-empty directories.







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited Mar 1 '11 at 22:13

























        answered Mar 1 '11 at 22:06









        mattdmmattdm

        28.9k1372116




        28.9k1372116























            2














            find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} +



            is the simplest and standard compliant answer to this question.



            The other answers given here unfortunately all depend on vendor specific enhancements that do not exist on all systems.






            share|improve this answer



















            • 2





              This answer raises an error for each directory that cannot be deleted which may be less than desirable.

              – Willem van Ketwich
              Apr 13 '17 at 0:04
















            2














            find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} +



            is the simplest and standard compliant answer to this question.



            The other answers given here unfortunately all depend on vendor specific enhancements that do not exist on all systems.






            share|improve this answer



















            • 2





              This answer raises an error for each directory that cannot be deleted which may be less than desirable.

              – Willem van Ketwich
              Apr 13 '17 at 0:04














            2












            2








            2







            find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} +



            is the simplest and standard compliant answer to this question.



            The other answers given here unfortunately all depend on vendor specific enhancements that do not exist on all systems.






            share|improve this answer













            find . -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} +



            is the simplest and standard compliant answer to this question.



            The other answers given here unfortunately all depend on vendor specific enhancements that do not exist on all systems.







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered Nov 6 '15 at 12:48









            schilyschily

            10.8k31642




            10.8k31642








            • 2





              This answer raises an error for each directory that cannot be deleted which may be less than desirable.

              – Willem van Ketwich
              Apr 13 '17 at 0:04














            • 2





              This answer raises an error for each directory that cannot be deleted which may be less than desirable.

              – Willem van Ketwich
              Apr 13 '17 at 0:04








            2




            2





            This answer raises an error for each directory that cannot be deleted which may be less than desirable.

            – Willem van Ketwich
            Apr 13 '17 at 0:04





            This answer raises an error for each directory that cannot be deleted which may be less than desirable.

            – Willem van Ketwich
            Apr 13 '17 at 0:04











            -1














            rm -r */ command worked easily for me. rm should require -f to forcefully remove directories with files. rm -r should only remove empty directories. I'm open to why this could be wrong. This should also leave files since */ only looks at folders.






            share|improve this answer
























            • I'd strongly recommend to test it thoroughly first as rm is primarily meant to remove files. While */ only matches directories, I have no idea what it does on deeper levels. I can also imagine that it works on some systems only.

              – maaartinus
              Jun 22 '18 at 19:30
















            -1














            rm -r */ command worked easily for me. rm should require -f to forcefully remove directories with files. rm -r should only remove empty directories. I'm open to why this could be wrong. This should also leave files since */ only looks at folders.






            share|improve this answer
























            • I'd strongly recommend to test it thoroughly first as rm is primarily meant to remove files. While */ only matches directories, I have no idea what it does on deeper levels. I can also imagine that it works on some systems only.

              – maaartinus
              Jun 22 '18 at 19:30














            -1












            -1








            -1







            rm -r */ command worked easily for me. rm should require -f to forcefully remove directories with files. rm -r should only remove empty directories. I'm open to why this could be wrong. This should also leave files since */ only looks at folders.






            share|improve this answer













            rm -r */ command worked easily for me. rm should require -f to forcefully remove directories with files. rm -r should only remove empty directories. I'm open to why this could be wrong. This should also leave files since */ only looks at folders.







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered Jun 22 '18 at 14:36









            libroman2libroman2

            1




            1













            • I'd strongly recommend to test it thoroughly first as rm is primarily meant to remove files. While */ only matches directories, I have no idea what it does on deeper levels. I can also imagine that it works on some systems only.

              – maaartinus
              Jun 22 '18 at 19:30



















            • I'd strongly recommend to test it thoroughly first as rm is primarily meant to remove files. While */ only matches directories, I have no idea what it does on deeper levels. I can also imagine that it works on some systems only.

              – maaartinus
              Jun 22 '18 at 19:30

















            I'd strongly recommend to test it thoroughly first as rm is primarily meant to remove files. While */ only matches directories, I have no idea what it does on deeper levels. I can also imagine that it works on some systems only.

            – maaartinus
            Jun 22 '18 at 19:30





            I'd strongly recommend to test it thoroughly first as rm is primarily meant to remove files. While */ only matches directories, I have no idea what it does on deeper levels. I can also imagine that it works on some systems only.

            – maaartinus
            Jun 22 '18 at 19:30


















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