rm -R <directoryname> not working as expected

[cookiesunshinex]

When I issue the command:

root@host [/home/user1/public_html]# rm -R directory1

instead of the directory and all subdirectories and all files in those directories being deleted, I get:

rm: descend into directory `directory1'?

This did not happen in the past.

Any ideas why?

Thanks..

[NightStorm]

It's asking for confirmation. Try adding the -f flag.
rm -Rf directory1

NOTE: This is final. Make absolutely certain you got the right directory typed in before you hit that enter key. I am constantly seeing cases of people wiping out important things (like /) by not properly formatting the command.

[websupport]

Links to check are as follows:

http://linux.about.com/od/commands/l/blcmdl1_rm.htm
http://www.research.att.com/~gsf/man/man1/rm.html

[Shinichi Kato]

root@host [/home/user1/public_html]# ls | xargs rm -R directory1

[serversphere]

Your rm binary may have been recently updated?

[chirpy]

It's most likely you've (had) created an alias in .bash_profile or /bashrc that changes rm to rf -i to get the true behaviour either remove the alias and logout and back in again, or run the binary directly from /bin/rm

[cookiesunshinex]

Thanks Chirpy that certainly explains what might be happening (or has happened).

I found the following files:
/root/.bashrc

which contains:
==================
# .bashrc

# User specific aliases and functions

alias rm='rm -i'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
. /etc/bashrc
fi
======EOF============

I also found
/etc/bashrc

which does NOT contain the line:
alias rm='rm -i'


The .bashrc that is contained in the user's home directories does not contain the Alias either.

So this makes sense that the root account uses the alias rm='rm -i' and thus I'm getting prompted to descend into the directories and to delete the files.

Whereas, the user's accounts do not have the alias set either in the /home/user1/.bashrc file or in the /etc/bashrc file.

Thanks for this help.