Problem deleting files

[Paul Schmehl]

--On July 1, 2018 at 4:01:48 PM -0500 "John R. Levine" <johnl at iecc.com> 
wrote:

>>>  $ rm -rf .
>>>
>>>  (Be really sure you're in the right directory.)
>>
>> Yes, I did. It returned argument list too long.
>
> Not to contradict you, but the phrase "too long" does not appear in the
> source code to the rm program, and I am reasonably sure it does not
> produce that message.  On the other hand the shell does produce that
> message when expanding wild cards.  So are you sure you tried this:
>
> $ rm -rf .
>
> and not this?
>
> $ rm -rf *
>
> They're not the same.
>

# rm -fr .
rm: "." and ".." may not be removed

# rm -fr *
bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long

> Regards,
> John Levine, johnl at iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for
> Dummies",
> Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to
> "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>



Paul Schmehl
Independent Researcher