FTP Delete non empty directory

Question

I am connected to a Unix server and I am trying to, via FTP, delete the directory dir with several files in it. If I use

ftp> delete dir/*

I get

550 Wildcard is ambiguous.

When I use

ftp> prompt off
Interactive mode off.
ftp> mdelete dir/*

I still get

550 Wildcard is ambiguous.

When I try

ftp> glob
Globbing on.
ftp> mdelete dir

I'm prompted for every file.

How can I easily delete/empty-and-delete a directory without getting prompted for every file?

score 45 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 10 '13 at 08:53

45

I got it to work in two steps, on a server with restricted access, no SFTP, only FTP through commandline.

Like this :

mdelete folder_name/*
rmdir folder_name

answered Jun 10 '13 at 08:53

EcchiOli

802
9
11

28

This only if there aren't sub-folders within `folder_name` – CJBS Sep 02 '14 at 18:55
It seems that this does not work after 2020, as they removed the ability to remove files with wildcards. – Pouria Moosavi Jan 11 '22 at 16:22

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 11 '12 at 09:58

19

If you've hidden files or folders on your server (for example .folder), you have to set the lftp list-options to "-a".

So this worked for me:

$ lftp -u user,pass server
> set ftp:list-options -a
> cd /folder/to/be/empty/
/folder/to/be/empty/> glob -a rm -r *

answered Nov 11 '12 at 09:58

philsch

1,004
11
19

3

See also [this answer](http://serverfault.com/questions/221436/delete-recursive-directories-with-ftp-command-on-bash) on Serverfault. And [this](http://happy-coding.com/transfer-a-file-to-a-remote-server-using-lftp/). `lftp -u login,password ftp_server_location -e "rm -r directory_to_delete; exit"` – chaserx Jul 19 '13 at 19:36
1

My favorite answer, lftp is so much easier. – Jim Oct 06 '13 at 01:11
1

It's too bad `lftp` doesn't remove all the files in a folder as one request. It seems to do a round trip for every single file, so it's very slow. – joeytwiddle Jul 05 '15 at 15:53
1

@joeytwiddle That's not `lftp` fault. It is a limitation of the FTP protocol. – Martin Prikryl Sep 18 '19 at 10:36

score 18 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 24 '20 at 07:41

18

Use lftp to log into your server, this supports the rm -r command.

lftp user, password server

then:

rm -r directory

the -r stands for "recursive".

info:

edited Aug 24 '20 at 07:41

StaNov

332
1
4
17

answered May 25 '12 at 23:47

Bulki

734
1
10
30

5

So this means there's no way to do it with FTP? – JonatanEkstedt May 30 '12 at 10:22

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 05 '14 at 23:30

4

$ ftp -i ...

will turn off prompting on mdel, which is what you want. It can't be done inside ftp.

answered Mar 05 '14 at 23:30

Mike Duffy

49
2

You just saved my life with that ' -i ' – tester Jul 30 '15 at 14:39

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 25 '12 at 06:32

0

rmdir directoryName

this directory must be in the current directory however.

cheatsheet: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/helpdocs/ftp.html

answered May 25 '12 at 06:32

Bulki

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1
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```rmdir -f ``` you can use **-f** to force a delete – Robert Jun 24 '19 at 15:28

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 07 '14 at 16:15

0

I'm using Filezilla, and it deletes folders recursively. I believe the ftp does not have a command that recursively deletes folders.

answered Apr 07 '14 at 16:15

Terry

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FTP Delete non empty directory

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