Rm: illegal option --M (terminal problems) - Empty Trash

I had some locked files. Couldn't delete them. Used sudo command in terminal to no avail. Used the 'unlock' file instructions from support page. Went into single-user mode, followed instructions. Blue screened at end. Rebooted. Was able to unlock file from desktop that was previously locked. Now I try to empty trash, but locked files won't go away.
I run terminal app (sudo command to empty trash) and get this error:
rm: illegal option --M
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...
unlink file
Please help, not sure what to do at this stage.
Thanks!

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Problem empty trash

Hi everyone ,
I have a problem to empty the trash. when I clic on "empty trash" it look like it empty the trash but the trash is still full.
I checked the permission of the disk and I get the following log:
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Sites".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Desktop".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Application Support".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Assistants".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Digidesign".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds/Alerts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds/Banks".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio/Sounds".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Audio".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/ColorPickers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Compositions".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Favorites".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/FontCollections".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Fonts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie/Plug-ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie/Sound Effects".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/iMovie".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Input Methods".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Internet Plug-Ins".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Keyboard Layouts".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Preferences".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Printers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Screen Savers".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Sounds".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library/Voices".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Library".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Movies".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Music".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Pictures".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/User Template/English.lproj/Public".
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/lppasswd" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Group differs on "private/etc/cups", should be 0, group is 26.
Permissions differ on "private/var/spool/cups/cache/rss", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are drwxrwxr-x .
The Disk Utility dose not repair this .
How can I empty the trash ?
How can I repair the permissions?

OK I fixed it.
In the terminal I delete the .Trash directory end restart the computer .
Now I can move files to trash and empty the trash.

Problem Emptying Trash filled with Time Machine Back Up Files

I have needed to create more space on an external hard drive that I use for TIme Machine back up of my hard drive. I took some of the Time Machine back ups [2011 and 2012] and dumped them into my trash. I have gone into my Preferences and removed the check mark beside the "empty trash securely" so that I can get rid of the folders faster. I have a Mac X snow leopard operating system 10.6.8.
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What can I do to get rid of all of these files from my Time Machine back up? I don't want to wait five or six days before the trash starts to empty. Appreciate any help you can give. Thanks.

http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

Problem emptying Trash despite following every tip and trick I could find..

Hi there,
I have a small number of very large folders I can't delete from my Macbook, which I believe is caused by a problem with the external disk I originally copied them from.
I had a problem with a disk because a colleague didn't eject it properly. I've never know this to cause a major problem before, but in this case a large number of files have been replaced by odd characters along the lines of "USBC[NULL][NULL]".
I've tried deleting the various files and folders from the hard disk, but now I'm stuck with them permanently in my Trash folder. I also have a massive iPhoto backup that I can't delete that was on the same disk.
The message I receive is the "The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items".
I've tried following the different steps on this page: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
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Re-connect (remount) the external hard drive, then try emptying the trash again.

Problems emptying trash content

hi, i got problem with emptying my Mac's Trash content.. everytime I emptied the trash,, it does emptying, however there's this unknown file persist, therefore the Trash icon would still appears not empty..
the file name is ␀␀␀õ ␀␀. ␀␀ with the size of zero KBs.. is this some sort of Mac virus?
here's a screenshot of the file:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SBDQKSYPY4c/TmHV5iJpSzI/AAAAAAAAAIo/EAT-DXNvS 40/s720/Picture%2525202.png
at the moment, this file still appears non-harmful. but it really is an eyesore.. however, i also think of the possibilities of this file as a virus that would eat up my Mac's storage and performance.
does anybody know about this problem, and how to solve it?

goki wrote:
done that,, doesn't work.. it's like some sort of a virus or a corrupted file,, how do i settle this?
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http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
( at Trash It and/or Cocktail...)

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My trash is taking years to empty, I gotta get it over with, so I can install Yosemite.
I just tried using the Terminal sudo command to empty my trash, but it didn't work. WHY?
This is the command I used: " sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/* "

I just tried quitting Terminal, and received this alert, "Closing this window will terminate the running processes: rm, sudo."
Does that mean that Terminal is actually emptying my trash? I had the impression that this command was supposed to do this instantaneously.

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I have a backup.backup file in my trash and it will not empty. It disappears when I disconnect the Time Machine and re-appears when I reconnect the Time Machine. It won't empty. Does anyone have an idea for solving this problem?

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I'm having troubles emptying my trash. Every time I try to empty it this message pops up "The operation can’t be completed because the item 'sixtyforce' is in use." and the program isn't running as far as I can tell by looking in the activity monitor or anywhere else.

Restart your computer, then try to move the file to the Trash and empty it.
If that doesn't work, start up the computer from your Snow Leopard installer DVD, open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu, select your internal hard drive in the left pane of DU, click the First Aid tab in the right pane, and click the Repair Disk button. After the repair process has finished, quit DU and the Installer, restart the machine normally from its hard drive, trash the file, and empty the Trash.

Problem emptying trash

Has anyone had problems removing applications since the upgrade?

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From the home screen, touch the applications tab (located on the bottom of the screen).
Touch Settings.
Touch Applications.
Touch Manage Applications.
Touch the desired application.
Touch Uninstall.
Touch OK.
Touch OK.

Unable to empty trash due to external USB HDD's locked files and no permission?

Hello.
I was doing a major cleanup with an external Seagate USB HDD due to low free disk spaces. It has two partitions/drives: FAT32 (using it for on other non-Apple machines like Windows 2000 SP4) and HFS [Time Machine only]). I threw about 30,000 items (copied from an old Windows 2000 SP4 machine's HDD with NTFS back a few years ago) from FAT32 partition/drive into the trash can. However, I am having problems emptying it. Most of them were emptied, but some were left behind.
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I tried holding Option key and emptying trash, but that didn't help/work. I used Finder to look at the files, and they had locked status. So I unlocked them which worked, but I can't delete the empty folders/directories, and these don't have locked.
What's going on and how do I empty the trash? Thank you in advance.

BDAqua wrote:
Hi again, are there maybe hidden files in those folders?
Show Hidden Files 1.0...
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/29096/show-hidden-files
Hidden Way is a toggle for hidden files view in Finder...
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/25716/hidden-way
Show hidden files in OSX Finder
Open the Terminal and type or copy/paste:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true
Reverting to the default of NOT showing hidden files:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false
*Restart or Force Quit Finder required to take effect.*
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/developer/hiddenfiles.html
http://www.burobjorn.nl/blog/?p=96
Finder Force Quit, or restart required to take effect.
Not that I saw through Terminal's ls -all and Windows XP Pro. SP3 machine. Someone told me to try secured empty trash and it did more, but not fully.
I used the administrator (sudo) account in Mac OS X 10.5.8's Terminal to delete the trash, but it still failed:
$ sudo rm -rf *
Password:
rm: 501/2010/07252010/My Documents/My Pictures: Operation not permitted
rm: 501/2010/07252010/My Documents: Directory not empty
rm: 501/2010/07252010: Directory not empty
rm: 501/2010/01162010and05042010/My Documents/My Pictures: Operation not permitted
rm: 501/2010/01162010and05042010/My Documents: Directory not empty
rm: 501/2010/01162010and05042010/Favorites: Operation not permitted
rm: 501/2010/01162010and05042010: Directory not empty
rm: 501/2010: Directory not empty
rm: 501/06182011/My Documents/My Pictures: Operation not permitted
rm: 501/06182011/My Documents: Directory not empty
rm: 501/06182011/Favorites: Operation not permitted
rm: 501/06182011: Directory not empty
rm: 501: Directory not empty
I tried deleting this on an old, updated Windows XP Pro. SP3 machine and it had no problems! Weird. I wonder why Mac OS X 10.5.8 failed to delete it through its Finder and Terminal (sudo rm -rf command).

Is it possible to create a secure empty trash shortcut in file menu?

I have second finger click enabled so that I can quickly move files to the trash bin from the contextual menu. This is fine and dandy, however, for files containing sensitive informaton, I'd like to have a "Secure File Delete" option available (file bypasses the trash bin and is wiped after selecting said option).
I've searched the threads and checked system prefs. Only options are to change "empty trash" to "secure empty trash". This wouldn't work as I have more files that are typically trashed and not wiped. It'd be nice to have it available as a convenience I suppose
I know theres an app in the app store that offers this functionality. It's $3-4.
So my question...is it possible to create such a contextual menu option on my own?
heres an example of what I'm ltalking about...

Create a new Service in Automator.
Set it to receive files an folders in the Finder.
Drag in an Ask for Confirmation action if you want it.
Drag in a Run Shell Script action from the Utilities section of the Library.
Set it to Pass Input as Arguments and Replace the code with:
srm -r "$@"
--That's ess-ar-em for Secure ReMove (just copy and paste)
Save it and it will show up in the Services menu when you right-click on an item in the Finder.
There are options you can add to it like -s for simple, -m for medium. The default (without options) is 35-pass Gutman.
You can see what options are available by opening Terminal and typeing
man srm
Hit space to scroll down. Q to quit the man page.
The Verbose and Interactive options won't work since you can respond.
Note that depending on the algorithm chosen, it may take some time for the file/folder to disappear from the Finder view.

Cannot empty Trash ..... Loosing Firefox Settings

Hi
I have 2 questions:
1. I am having problem emptying Trash. I keep getting following message : "The operation cannot be completed because the item "wmphelp.htm" is locked. It message also has the yellow triangle with an exclamation mark.
2. Every few weeks I loose all the settings (bookmarks etc ) on my Firefox browser. I am not sure how this happens but there does not seem to be a pattern.
Hope someone can give me hints
Thanks

Sometimes it happens that the Finder just doesn't want to empty the trash anymore and says "The operation cannot be completed because the item "" is in use.". That's a good warning if it is true, but sometimes you want to get rid of an application and this warning appears even though the only thing running is the Finder. Usually after a restart you can delete it. But that is very time consuming and even then, it is sometimes still stuck not wanting to be deleted. There is a risky command that can be used in the Terminal that will empty the trash no matter what. Risky because a simple error in the syntax could erase a lot of stuff that you want to keep.
There is a much easier and quicker way of forcing the Finder to empty the trash no matter what! It is done in the freeware customization and maintenance application OnyX (download @ http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html ). Once you loaded OnyX and entered your administrator password, choose "Cleaning" in the top bar. Click on the "Trash" tab. You can now choose whether you want to "Delete" or to "Securely Delete" (by overwriting) and click Execute. That's it, it will force the Finder to empty the trash even if the files are in use!
Also look at these links.
You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash in Mac OS X
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106272
Mac OS X 10.2: Cannot delete an incomplete copy or download
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107426
Solving Trash Problems
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
How To Fix Stubborn Trash and Why it Won't Delete
http://www.osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter/HowTo/Trash/index.ws
Download Trash It! v3.6.1 from:
http://www.nonamescriptware.com/?page_id=5
Download DropNuke from:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12664
 Cheers, Tom

Problem with trash function/cannt reset my mac

i moved two one page word documents to trash but all it gave me was a moving "candy cane" blue/white bar. then i tried to stop it but i still have the moving blue/white bar while it reads "Stopping..." ... and its been like this for ten monutes. now i can't reset my computer. any ideas on how to stop this? thx

i also tried to press option while clicking on "empty trash" but what i get is a message: trash cannot be opened right now ebcause its being used by another task ... try again when current task is complete. but trash wont complete its task.

Empty trash, locked item

I can't empty trash, after trying to empty it, it asks, remove all unlocked items, remove all. Either options work, not letting the trash being empty...
thanx

Try holding down the Option key while selecting Empty Trash from the Finder menu.

Can't empty trash, tried secure (option-cmd-shift-del) & Terminal

Have had this issue for a while and searched the Community for answers before.
Had over a million items in the Trash (after trying to clean stuff up) - I know, I know.
I usually do the Secure Empty Trash, with no problems, but now that so much was in the Trash, it kept quitting the emptying process, and not actually emptying.
Then I tried the Option-Command-Shift-Delete, and am down to about 17,000+ items.
When I try to empty Trash now, it empties about 500-1000 items, then stops/quits emptying.
Then if I try it again, it counts up the items to empty and I still have that same 17k+ items.
Today I tried the Terminal commands, but the trash was still full when I signed back in...
So now what?
Thanks.
Diana

Relaunch the Finder, then from the Finder menu bar, select
Finder ▹ Preferences... ▹ Advanced
and uncheck the box marked
Empty Trash securely
Try again to empty the Trash.

Rm: illegal option --M (terminal problems) - Empty Trash

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