How to force-empty the trash in macOS High Sierra
Feb 19, 2018
I had been looking for this article for few days due to a stubborn trash that wouldn't empty. I tried all the known tricks, but they hadn't worked and some files in the trash kept on blocking its full emptying.
The reported Terminal command to use to get the job done is:
sudo rm -R [path to file or folder to remove]
I myself use the command line very seldom, which is the reson why I'm reporting this snippet here, so that others like me can find it. Nevertheless, I was curious on what that propt meant. Memory and a quick trip into man rm satisfied my curiosity:
sudo, Terminal for "Super User Do", gives absolute power to the commands that follow it. As Peter Parker and others know, "From great power comes great responsibility" - so use it with great attention;rmstands for remove, the-Roption tells it to climb every folder content deleting both files and folders, until nothing is left.
Let me state this again: as always when using the command line, some wrong characters can cause serious data losses.
But if you know what you are doing (or follow with extreme care the provided instructions) it becomes the powerful tool we sometimes need to solve occasional hassles like this.
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