How to use command rm -r in mac terminal?

Question

I'm just trying to delete a non empty folder (and sub contents) with the terminal on mac (folder is a non system folder, just a random testing folder placed on user desktop):

rm -r foldername

It returns:

rm: illegal option -- - usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...

unlink file

Does anyone know the right way to go about this ?

Solution

type -a rm

returns :

rm is aliased to `rm --preserve-root'
rm is /bin/rm

--preserve-root is NOT supported on mac terminal.

Comments

[Gordon Davisson]

--preserve-root is a GNU extension to the rm command, but macOS uses mostly BSD versions of command-line programs (including rm), so it doesn't support that. If you try to bring things directly over from linux to macOS, there are a lot of such differences you may run into. Also, don't consult the linux man pages when using macOS -- either use the man command directly, or use an online copy of the macOS man pages.