I once cleaned a build folder on a CentOS box. There was a link named release -> /srv/app/releases/2023-08-17. I typed rm -r release/. It failed with that “Not a directory” line. I almost forced it. Instead, I took a breath, ran ls -l, and used rm release. Done. The old release stayed safe. My coffee stayed warm. My heart rate dropped.
On a lighter note, all this talk about tracing paths and following links sometimes reminds me that “mapping” can take you far beyond the Linux terminal. If you’re over 18 and curious about how geo-tagged maps are used in a completely different niche, check out milfmaps.com—the site layers an interactive map over adult profiles so you can quickly see who’s nearby and what they’re into, making it an unexpectedly tech-savvy way to explore local connections.
If maps aren’t your thing or you find yourself in California’s Central Valley, there’s a more traditional directory worth bookmarking: Backpage Manteca listings—it rounds up real-time adult classifieds from the Manteca area, giving you an easy, scrollable feed of who’s available and what they offer without any extra digging.
My verdict
Deleting symlinks on Linux is easy once you see the shape of it.
- rm is my daily driver.
- unlink is my calm, careful friend.
- find is my broom for broken links.
Would I change anything? I wish the trailing slash warning was clearer. But hey, the tools do what they say. I’d give the whole flow a 4.5 out of 5. You know what? That’s pretty great for something that could ruin your weekend if it went wrong.
Copy-paste cheatsheet
# See where a link points
ls -l link
readlink -f link
# Remove a single link
rm link
unlink link
# Remove many links at once
rm link1 link2 link3
# Avoid the trailing slash on links
rm somelink # good
rm somelink/ # bad: Not a directory
# Clean broken links under current folder
find -L . -type l -print -delete
# or (on systems with -xtype)
find . -xtype l -print -delete
If you’re unsure, slow down, check the target, and use rm -i. A few extra seconds beats a long night, every time.