Help on deleting using terminal

[Pynkiss]

Hello,

How can I delete files that are on my desktop using Terminal? Can't delete using Finder because I've got "Finder crashes repeadly" problem and I think that 1 app is causing this, because I added the app on my desktop and it started crashing right after I added that app. I've been using windows many years and this is the first year I'm on Mac, OS X and I don't know anything. I tried to google, but to be honest I didn't find a helpful post or atleast I didn't understand. Cheers and thanx for any help!

 

[miles01110]

Launch Terminal, type 'man rm' without the quotes, and read about the rm command.

 

[Arizor]

Launch Terminal:

cd Desktop
rm AppName

Or if it's a folder:

rm -rf Folder

 

[Tooth DeKay]

You can save a step and just use

rm ~/Desktop/FileToDelete

or

rm ~/Desktop/FolderToDelete

 

[Pynkiss]

Hey,

I tried using

cd desktop
rm Borderlands

Borderlands is the app that I want to delete. And I get "No Such file or directory"

And also, I tried:

rm ~/Desktop/Borderlands

Still the same. Any ideas why? I checked everything, I'm typing the name correct. How I checked? When I start my mac, for a second the finder is okay and all my files on the desktop are in and then disappear leaving the finder crash.

Or even is there a command to wipe all my files from mac except the OS ones?

 

[miles01110]

Borderlands is the app that I want to delete. And I get "No Such file or directory"

Then that's probably not the name of the file or directory you want to delete. That error message does not leave much room for interpretation...

 

[Weaselboy]

Borderlands is the app that I want to delete. And I get "No Such file or directory"

Is this the game Borderlands? From what I see here you are saying you dragged the game (app) from the Applications folder onto the desktop?

If the game/app is visible on your desktop just click it once to select and then hit the command and delete keys at the same time and the app will be deleted.

 

[Mal]

OP, try this. Enter "cd ~/Desktop" without the quotes (this will get you to your Desktop folder, regardless of where you are now). Make sure you get the capitalization right, because it is case-sensitive.

Then, enter "ls". This will display a list of the files in the Desktop folder. The Borderlands application is probably going to be named Borderlands.app, but select and copy the exact name from that list.

Then, enter "mv Borderlands.app ~/.Trash/", replacing Borderlands.app with whatever the actual name was if necessary. The reason I'm telling you to do this instead of the rm command used earlier is that if you mistype something while using rm you can really screw up the computer, but you're less likely to run into problem with mv (move). This command will move the file into your Trash.

Then, try restarting and see if your Desktop loads properly.

BTW, take this as an opportunity to begin keeping your desktop completely clean. Use it only for temporary storage of small items (stuff you drag off a webpage to save or small documents you're planning to move elsewhere). Because of the way it works in OS X, having large items on the Desktop will often produce results just like you're seeing here.

jW

 

[Pynkiss]

Mal,

I did what you said and it worked fine! I deleted the app and everything now works perfect and I will keep in mind your tips.

And thanx to all who tried to help me, cheers! Case Closed!

 

[Mal]

Great! Always glad to hear.

jW