How to Clear Out Temporary Directories

1. Become superuser.

2. Change to the /var/tmp directory.

   # cd /var/tmp

   ---

   Caution -

   Be sure you are in the right directory before completing the following step. The next step deletes all files in the current directory.

   ---

3. Delete the files and subdirectories in the current directory.

   # rm -r *

4. Change to other directories containing temporary or obsolete subdirectories and files (for example, mail, lost+found, or quotas), and delete them by repeating Step 3 above.

Example--Clearing Out Temporary Directories

The following example shows how to clear out the /var/tmp directory, and verifies that all files and subdirectories were removed.

# cd /var/tmp
# ls
deadfiles           wxconAAAa0003r:0.0  wxconAAAa000NA:0.0
test_dir            wxconAAAa0003u:0.0  wxconAAAa000cc:0.0 
wxconAAAa000zs:0.0
# rm -r *
# ls
#