# Shell script to empty trash? Applescript maybe?



## Rhino_G3 (Oct 10, 2001)

What I'm wanting is to create a shell script that'll empty the trash of my regular user account as root.  I don't know if this is possible using sudo in the terminal or not.  I don't want to put in the password if there's anyway around it.  If I do have to put in the pass I'd like it to be in an aqua window.  Hince my question about applescripting.

Does anybody know if this is possible?


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## scruffy (Oct 10, 2001)

sudo rm -rf ~[username]/.Trash/*

(replacing [username] with your real username) should do it, if the problem is permissions on files in the trash.

The other problem might be that the files would be locked - this seems more likely; if you haven't got the privileges to delete a file, I'm not sure you would have the privs to move it to the trash in the first place.  Check out the man page for SetFile, that should do the trick in that case.

Personally I'd rather put my password in a terminal window, there at least I know what is being done and I have more control, but that's just me...  Apple's .pkg installers are notorious for trashing things if they're not done just so, and if the files they expect to find are not just where they expect them


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## Rhino_G3 (Oct 10, 2001)

Awesome, thanks a bunch.
Is there anyway to delete locked files from the trash?
I thought there may have been a way to remove them but I guess I could be mistaken.

What I'm looking to create is a file that I can double click on and run (or run using a simple command through term) to empty my trash with root permissions.


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## PabloDiablo (Jan 23, 2002)

I'm looking for a solution to a similar problem, as I'm also an AppleScript newbie. I want to run a command in Terminal using sudo, and I can get as far as getting the script to do the sudo command, but then it prompts me for my pasword. How Can I automate this reply as well? I've tried looking in the Terminal dictionary, but there seems to be only the 'do script with command' command.


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## xegan (Feb 8, 2002)

OK, I can't delete a series of folders.
I've tried everything I can find.

The problem seems to be that the bottommost
nested folder has two "." files (like "." and "..")

I can't seem to rename or delete one of
the "." files.

anyone seen this one?
weird...


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## Red Phoenix (Feb 8, 2002)

Type *which rm* in the Terminal. It should say */bin/rm*. If not, then you probably installed a newer version of the the file utilities (as was mentioned on this site, MacOS X Hints, and Resexcellence, among other places). Unfortunately, the *rm* command has a bug such that it can't delete folders with too many files in it. To fix this, if, for example, the *which rm* gave back */usr/local/bin/rm*, type

*sudo mv /usr/local/bin/rm /usr/local/bin/rm.bad*

give it your administrative password, and then type
*rehash*
for it to start using the proper *rm*

Of course, if it's not it, then we'll have to find something else...


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## xegan (Feb 8, 2002)

naw, I know unix...

I've reposted this under "Mac OSX (10.x & newer)"
http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=70333#post70333

This is what I get when I "ll"
------------------------------------------
[localhost:Behavior Demo/Library/Media] xegan% ll
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  4 xegan  unknown  264 Feb  8 19:27 .
drwxr-xr-x  4 xegan  unknown  264 Feb  8 19:27 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 xegan  unknown   58 Feb  8 19:19 ..
[localhost:Behavior Demo/Library/Media] xegan% 
------------------------------------------

Thanks Red, but my "rm" is workin just fine : )
And the folder isn't locked as far as I can tell...

anyone got any guesses now?


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## blb (Feb 8, 2002)

What does the output of *ls -laF* look like (this'll append certain characters to the end of file/dir names to represent their type).  Let's see if there's anything weird after the dot in there.

Also, when was the last time you checked your disk (via fsck or Disk First Aid)?


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## xegan (Feb 10, 2002)

no spaces or stange characters here...

[localhost:Behavior Demo/Library/Media] egan% ls -laF
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  3 egan  unknown  58 Feb  8 19:27 ./
drwxr-xr-x  3 egan  unknown  58 Feb  8 19:27 ./
drwxr-xr-x  3 egan  unknown  58 Feb 10 02:29 ../

http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13130


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## unlearnthetruth (Feb 10, 2002)

sudo rm -rf ~[username]/.Trash/* 
-------------------------------------------

why can't I get that command to work? it says "sudo: no match" in fact, most of the commands I see used in this forum or at osxhints.com don't work for one reason or another... usually sudo no match or what have you.... i'm so confused....


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## unlearnthetruth (Feb 10, 2002)

oooh good - that one worked... thanks! now i can empty the trash since i kept getting "not enough access privilages"


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