Files on Server Won’t Delete
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007I was doing some changing around of things last night, when I came to the point of having to delete some files and folders off a few of my servers.
The funny thing is, when I went to delete them off my old server, everything disappeared just fine. When I went to delete them off my new server (different host), there were some directories that wouldn’t delete. This got a little annoying to me.
I called the hosting company to figure out what was going on. I told them that some directories wouldn’t delete and told them which ones. The dude took a look and told me that there were still some files in those directories and that their server configuration required that all directories be empty before they will delete. I told him that they were empty. He responded by telling me that there were some “.htaccess” files still in there, but I probably had my FTP program set to not see hidden files.
I hung up the phone. I then looked at the settings on my FTP program (FileZilla). He was right. The setting was to hide hidden files. I switched the setting, closed the program, reopened the program and deleted the directories.
What’s the moral of the story? If you want to see hidden files on your server, switch the setting.
