Damn stubborn empty dirs

[Claw]

I have a dir in my barrysworld webspace that I cant delete, when I try to delete it it says the dir isn't empty, I've reinstalled the entire game and tried to delete it that way, after deleting the files within the dir it still says it isn't empty...

Below is a cut/paste of the log when I try to delete the offending dirs...

COMMAND:> pwd
257 "/undeletable?/undeletable2/backends/smarty" is current directory.
COMMAND:> RMD docs
550 docs: Directory not empty
COMMAND:> CDUP
250 CDUP command successful.
COMMAND:> pwd
257 "/undeletable?/undeletable2/backends" is current directory.
COMMAND:> RMD smarty
550 smarty: Directory not empty
COMMAND:> CDUP
250 CDUP command successful.
COMMAND:> pwd
257 "/undeletable?/undeletable2" is current directory.
COMMAND:> RMD backends
550 backends: Directory not empty
COMMAND:> CDUP
250 CDUP command successful.
COMMAND:> pwd
257 "/undeletable?" is current directory.
COMMAND:> RMD undeletable2
550 undeletable2: Directory not empty
COMMAND:> CDUP
250 CDUP command successful.
COMMAND:> pwd
257 "/" is current directory.
COMMAND:> RMD undeletable?
550 undeletable?: Directory not empty
COMMAND:> pwd
257 "/" is current directory.
COMMAND:> TYPE A
200 Type set to A.

The problem appears to lie within the docs dir, which shows a file size of 4kb although it is undoubtly empty. CHMOD for the whole dir structure involved is 755, I've gone through all the dirs concerned and triple-checked they are set to that.

Tis baffling me as I've never came across this before, on the odd time that cuteftp has glitched I've always found a way out, not this time though

Any thoughts?

 

[Testin da Cable]

it may be that there's a file in your dir called " " ie. a space character OR there's a file in there you can't see because it's hidden from you in another fashion, perhaps starting with a "." like a .htaccess file.

 

[Claw]

yes, just gone through the original files and there's one called ".cvsignore"

hmm, still dunno how to "see it" so I can delete it though hehe.

Oooooo makes me feel like a newbie this does

 

[Claw]

yes, just gone through the original files and there's one called ".cvsignore"

Downloaded Flashfxp and found an option in there to show hidden files, seeing as how I couldn't find one in cuteftp.

Up it popped deleted the dir npbs.

Cheers for your help on this Testin, would of drove me up the wall in the end this

 

[Jonty]

Edit - teeheehee, didn't think I took that long writing this post Glad everything's sorted, though

(For future reference . . .)

If that is you're problem, which it would appear very likely to be, then you need to enable the 'Show Hidden Files' option in your FTP program. This in turn should allow you to delete the directories in question (or at very least delete the file and then the directory).

By default, many programs don't have the option switched on to stop users doing things they should not, but there should be an option in there somewhere. Also, whilst you're looking, make sure you have the recursive option enabled too.

I can only speak from experience but in SmartFTP, both these settings are contained in the 'Commands' > 'Connection' > 'List Options'. Naturally this will vary wildly from program to program, so if you still can't find them, just post your name and version of your FTP program and/or contact the authors and their support pages for further details.

Kind Regards

 

[(Shovel)]

Most FTP programs should give an option to show hidden files or to pass a parameter when displaying files. The one you want is "-a"

If using a command prompt I *think* that typing ls -a will show your hidden files.

 

[Mr. 47]

wsFTP uses -al