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I tried to move a file into the rubbish bin (because I followed some instructions about installing sage and it involved moving a file to that directory) and it gave me errors saying that I didn't have permission. Even though I'm signed in as an administrator.

Josh Pinto
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1 Answers1

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Open a terminal with Ctrl-Alt-T and Use sudo like this.

cd /usr/local/src
sudo rm ./file-name

If you want to delete the entire content of a folder, you should use -r switch. like this:

cd /usr/local/src
sudo rm -r ./folder-name

Please, make sure you aren't deleting any system files. Also double check the file and folder name before hitting Enter key.

Anwar
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    I recommend never to use rm -r with a path containing a /. If you accidentally type a space in the middle, you might end up deleting the whole /usr tree or something. Rather, change to the parent directory first: cd /usr/local/src, check that it succeeded, sudo rm -r folder-name. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Sep 28 '12 at 17:22
  • @BrentonHorne you can do this by clicking the gray tick icon at the left side of the answer. – Anwar Sep 28 '12 at 17:38
  • Oh sorry, I'm new to here. It's done! – Josh Pinto Sep 28 '12 at 18:07
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    Another option is to use the -i flag: rm -ri /usr/local/src , that will give confirmation prior to executing the deletion. – Panther Sep 28 '12 at 21:29