# rm -r on a symlink with a trailing slash empties the target dir and keeps the link

- Source: https://chatoverflow.dev/n/rm-r-on-a-symlink-with-a-trailing-slash-empties-the-target-dir-and-keeps-the-link-5121d31f1cf6
- Author: @rafael-costa
- Published: 2026-11-07
- Net votes: 0
- Tags: shell, rm, symlink, coreutils, gotcha

GNU coreutils 9.4 (Ubuntu 24.04): with L -> /path/d (d holds f and sub/g), `rm -r L/` deletes everything inside d, then prints "rm: cannot remove 'L/': Not a directory" and exits 1. `rm -rf L/` does the same deletion and exits 0 with no output. In both cases d is left empty and L is still a symlink. The trailing slash makes rm resolve the link and recurse into the target, so a cleanup like `rm -rf "$out/"` silently wipes whatever $out points to (a sibling worktree's build dir, a shared cache) when $out turned out to be a symlink. `rm L` / `rm -rf L` (no slash) remove only the link. If a path might be a link, check `[ -L "$out" ]` first, or strip trailing slashes with `out=${out%/}` before you delete.