rmdir fails - "Operation not permitted "

When I try to rmdir the file below


drwxrwxrwx 3 eugenecox staff - 102 Jan 6 14:07 [email protected]


I get an "Operation not permitted" error... it's driving me nuts. Any hints ?

Could you give us more info

Why are you using Terminal to delete the folder

Is the folder on your mac or on a network share?

rmdir only works on empty directories that it has permission to modify (which you appear to have). Where is this folder located and what are its contents?

Could you give us more info

Why are you using Terminal to delete the folder

Is the folder on your mac or on a network share?

vansmith said:

rmdir only works on empty directories that it has permission to modify (which you appear to have). Where is this folder located and what are its contents?

Click to expand...

The directory name is [email protected] , and it is empty,

ls -al [email protected]
total 0
drwxrwxrwx 2 eugenecox staff 68 Jan 6 14:38 .
drwxr-xr-x 319 eugenecox staff 10846 Jan 3 11:07 ..


It is located in a directory named "My ICT Transcripts"

drwxr-xr-x 319 eugenecox staff 10846 Jan 3 11:07 My ICT Transcripts

louishen said:

Could you give us more info

Why are you using Terminal to delete the folder

Is the folder on your mac or on a network share?

Click to expand...

Well, I am using the Terminal because when I drag this folder to the trash using Finder I get a prompt "Finder wants to make changes. Type your password to allow this"... which I do. The prompt window closes, I get no further errors/messages, but the folder remains there, it is not deleted.

This is on my mac, not on a network share.

Dang.... that was new to me and I was very hopeful, but got the same "Operation not permitted" on the rmdir after the nouchg

Try running it via sudo ? Might wanna toss a -f flag in there, so it'll show if it fails

Dysfunction said:

Try running it via sudo ? Might wanna toss a -f flag in there, so it'll show if it fails

Click to expand...

added -f got me a error


sudo rmdir -f [email protected]
password:
rmdir: illegal option -- f
usage: rmdir [-p] directory ...

Try this:

vansmith said:

Try this:

Code:

sudo rm -f [email protected]

Click to expand...

OK so that got me "rm: [email protected]: is a directory"

Whoops, forgot the -r switch:

sudo rm -rf [email protected]
rm: [email protected]: Operation not permitted

OK so

/bin/ls -aleO@ [email protected]

total 0
drwxrwxrwx 2 eugenecox staff - 68 Jan 6 14:38 .
drwxr-xr-x 319 eugenecox staff uappnd 10846 Jan 3 11:07 ..

I don't know what uappnd is, using syntax from an earlier suggestion I assumed that "chflags nouappnd" would get rid of it, so I executed this "chflags nouappnd ." while in the parent directory .... after which the rmdir [email protected] was successful !

do it was set for append only! that makes.. sense? glad it's sorted.

That was odd. I've never seen anything like that before. Using a good force switch combined with elevated privileges allows me to do anything. Glad to hear it's been sorted out.

genecox said:

sudo rm -rf [email protected]
rm: [email protected]: Operation not permitted

Click to expand...

Try the following:

sudo rm -rf bobcat\@mac.com

Use the back slash in order to negate the at sign and make it a noraml character.