How to Delete All Files in a Folder in Linux: rm, find, and rsync

Deleting all files in a directory is a common server maintenance task: clearing logs, cache, temporary files, backup contents. There are several approaches, and the choice depends on whether hidden files need to be removed, subdirectories preserved, or everything deleted recursively.

rm: Basic Deletion

Delete all regular files in a directory:

rm /path/to/folder/*

The * character is a glob pattern that the shell expands into a list of all files in the directory. Subdirectories and hidden files are not affected.

Important: rm deletes files instantly with no recycle bin. The operation cannot be undone. Always verify the path before running.

Delete Files with Confirmation for Each

rm -i /path/to/folder/*

The -i (interactive) flag requests confirmation before deleting each file. It slows things down but protects against accidentally removing the wrong files.

Delete Including Hidden Files

Files beginning with a dot (.bashrc, .env, .htaccess) are not matched by the * pattern. To remove them as well, use .[!.]*:

rm /path/to/folder/* /path/to/folder/.[!.]*

The .[!.]* pattern matches files starting with . but excludes . and .. (current and parent directory). This matters — deleting . or .. would be catastrophic.

In bash, dotglob can be enabled so that * includes hidden files:

shopt -s dotglob
rm /path/to/folder/*
shopt -u dotglob  # turn off afterwards

Delete Everything Recursively (Files and Subdirectories)

rm -rf /path/to/folder/*

-r — recursive (including subdirectories), -f — no confirmation prompts (force). Together — the most powerful and most dangerous combination.

⚠️ Never run rm -rf / or rm -rf /* — this will destroy the entire filesystem. Double-check the path before running.

find: Targeted Deletion with Filters

find gives full control over exactly what to delete — by type, extension, age, or size.

Delete only files (not directories) in a folder:

find /path/to/folder -maxdepth 1 -type f -delete

-maxdepth 1 — current level only, not recursive. -type f — regular files only. -delete — remove what was found.

Delete files recursively across all subdirectories:

find /path/to/folder -type f -delete

Delete files by extension:

find /path/to/folder -name "*.log" -delete
find /path/to/folder -name "*.tmp" -delete

Delete files older than N days:

find /path/to/folder -type f -mtime +30 -delete

-mtime +30 — files last modified more than 30 days ago. Useful for log rotation.

Delete files larger than a certain size:

find /path/to/folder -type f -size +100M -delete

Preview what will be deleted — run without -delete, using -print instead:

find /path/to/folder -type f -mtime +30 -print

Clear a Folder but Keep Subdirectories

Sometimes all files need to be removed while leaving the directory structure intact — for example, clearing cache while keeping placeholder directories.

find /path/to/folder -type f -delete

Without -maxdepth 1, the command walks all subdirectories and deletes every file, leaving empty directories behind.

rsync: Unconventional but Reliable

Syncing a folder against an empty directory effectively clears it:

mkdir /tmp/empty_dir
rsync -a --delete /tmp/empty_dir/ /path/to/folder/

--delete removes from the target everything that does not exist in the source. The source is empty — so the target becomes empty too. This runs faster than rm -rf on folders with millions of small files (typical for PHP cache or node_modules).

Delete Contents Without Removing the Folder Itself

Sometimes it matters that the folder keeps its original permissions and ownership — deleting and recreating it may alter the metadata.

rm -rf /path/to/folder/* /path/to/folder/.[!.]*

The folder itself remains. Only its contents are deleted.

Safe Check Before Deletion

Before running a destructive command — verify the path:

ls /path/to/folder/

Or use echo to preview what the glob pattern will expand to, without deleting anything:

echo rm /path/to/folder/*

echo just prints the command with expanded filenames. A safe way to check exactly what will be targeted.

Common Errors

rm: cannot remove '/path/*': No such file or directory The folder is empty or the path is wrong. The glob * does not expand in an empty directory — bash passes the literal * to rm, which finds no such file.

Hidden files remain after rm * The * pattern does not match dotfiles. Run rm .[!.]* separately or use find.

rm -rf does not delete the directory itself With rm -rf /path/to/folder/* — the contents are deleted but not the folder. To delete the folder too: rm -rf /path/to/folder.

Accidentally deleted the wrong folder rm has no recycle bin. Recovery is only possible with tools like extundelete or testdisk — and only if the disk has not been overwritten. Always keep backups on production servers.

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