How can I delete a hidden folder?

Question

I want to delete many configuration folder in my home user folder but I can't figure out how to delete them. How can I delete a hidden folder?

Solution

You can remove hidden directories (with . at the beginning of the name) like normal directories:

rm -rf .directory_name

(r for recursive, f for force).

To display hidden directories use -a option for ls:

ls -a

You can also use mc or some other file manager to remove them. Most of them will have option to display hidden directories in View menu or in settings. In mc hidden directories are displayed by default.

Comments

[Kevin]

Better not to get in the habit of using -f. You should really only use it if you're expecting many read-only files (e.g. in a .svn folder).