[HM] Trashing a file that won't go quietly into the night

[Miche Doherty]

On Jan 29, 2006, at 9:15 am, Alec McKenzie wrote:

> At 20:04 -0800 on 28/1/06, Jane Sprando wrote:
>> How do you get rid of a file that when you get a message that you 
>> can't
>> delete it because it is in use, and you are not using it?
>
> The only way I have found is to live with it being in the trash for 
> the time being. The next time you log in you will be able to get rid 
> of it.

Something I've seen happen once or twice with interrupted downloads is 
that the system thinks the file is in use, even after logout or 
restart, and refuses to move it to the Trash. It's possible to delete 
the file via the Terminal.

(NB: the rm command doesn't move files to the trash; it deletes them, 
and there is no undo. So make sure you're deleting the right file.)

1. Open the Terminal application, in the folder /Applications/Utilities.
2. If necessary, move the Terminal window and/or hide other 
applications so that you can see the file you want to delete (in a 
Finder window or on your desktop).
3. In Terminal, type "rm ", without quotes but not forgetting the space 
after the letters.
4. Drag the file you want to delete and drop it in the Terminal window. 
Terminal will autocomplete the file's pathname, so you'll see something 
like this after the prompt:

	rm /Users/yourname/Desktop/example.ext

5. Hit return.

Miche.