#FORCE EMPTY TRASH MAC TERMINAL SUDO HOW TO#
#FORCE EMPTY TRASH MAC TERMINAL SUDO PASSWORD#

Repeat the process by adding space after R. You can delete the entire trash by running: rm -rf /. By default (as in this case) the user is the superuser root, which can do almost anything. Try it and let us know whether it worked for you or not, if the process is not executed like it is supposed to be, you might have forgotten to add space after R. 3 Answers Sorted by: 5 sudo executes a command as another user. The process might take a little bit more time if there are large files in Trash. Thus, you can force empty into the trash bin.

#FORCE EMPTY TRASH MAC TERMINAL SUDO PASSWORD#

Note: when you will enter the password into Terminal, you will not see the password being typed. To execute the command, enter your admin password. Select all the files present in the Trash bin folder.ĭrag and drop the files into Terminal Window. Now Control-click on Trash icon to launch it. To delete your trash through Terminal, enter or copy and paste the following command line exactly: sudo rm -rf /.Trash/ To delete another user’s trash (username is the user’s short name) enter or copy and paste: sudo rm -rf /Users/username/.Trash/ Once entered, you’ll be asked for your administrator password and your trash will empty. Type Terminal to launch Terminal on your Mac.Įnter the below-mentioned command on Terminal without pressing Enter afterward Sudo rm -R While typing the command, make sure there should be space after R to make the command work.

On your desktop, look for a magnifying glass at the top right-hand side corner to bring up Spotlight. Previous threads on this subject are too old. I am running Catalina 10.15.3 on my iMac. I have tried the sudo command in Terminal, was prompted for password, but cannot enter it.

#FORCE EMPTY TRASH MAC TERMINAL SUDO HOW TO#

How to Force Empty Trash Bin on a Mac Using Terminal? # Trash can will not empty My trash can (containing a mere 4 items) will not empty. If none of the above methods works, we can always use Terminal to force the trash to empty on Mac. You can hold down the Option key while you try emptying Trash. Tip: To delete items from your Trash without the confirmation message displaying, hit Option+Shift+Command+Delete. If you want to delete a chosen item in the Trash folder, click on it, then select 'Empty Trash'. Go to Trash and select the item that you want to delete by Control-click and select Delete. On the message popup, click on the 'Empty Trash' button. If you are using a higher version such as El Capitan or Sierra, follow through: Keyboard Shortcuts: #īefore using the terminal, you can use force empty Mac Trash bin with shortcuts. When Terminal is launched, enter sudo rm followed by a space and don’t hit Enter (because it will open a new window). Note: For older versions, you can force the items in the trash bin to delete permanently by using sudo Ek-rf ~/.Trash/*. You can force empty trash on Mac for good with the help of Terminal.

Force empty trash mac terminal sudo