GNU bug report logs - #45924
RFE: rmdir -r: recursively remove [empty] directories under the target.

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Message #26 received at 45924 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: L A Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
Cc: 45924 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#45924: RFE: rmdir -r: recursively remove [empty] directories
 under the target.
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2021 21:16:03 -0800

On 1/18/21 2:53 AM, L A Walsh wrote:
> Except that 'find DIR -depth -type d -exec rmdir {} +'
> is anything but simple and not something anyone outside of
> a minority of *nix users would have a clue about how to create, whereas 
> 'rmdir -r DIR' is both direct and simple and
> more easily understandable

It's not that simple. For example, it's not clear whether rmdir -r 
should also remove directories containing only empty subdirectories, 
which is what you asked for. Perhaps some people would want that, 
perhaps they'd want to remove just empty leaf directories. Or perhaps 
they'd want rmdir to remove empty subdirectories only if it has 
permission to do so. Or maybe they'd want to also remove subdirectories 
whose directory entries are all hidden (start with '.'). Or there are 
lots of other possible things people could plausibly want.

This is what 'find' is for. If people needed to do something like "rmdir 
-r" every day then it'd be plausible to add it even though there's a 
simple substitute. But people don't, so let's stick with what we have.

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