rclone purge

Completely removes a folder and ALL its contents.

Comparable with rm -rf on your local filesystem.

Command	What it removes	Removes folders	Uses filters	Recovery
`purge`	Everything	✅	❌	❌
`delete`	Files only	❌	✅	❌
`rmdir`	Empty folders only	✅	N/A	❌
`rmdirs`	Empty folders	✅	N/A	❌
`cleanup`	Trash only	N/A	N/A	✅ Maybe

Usage

Appropriate Uses

# Delete temporary folders
rclone purge remote:temp-project-12345

# Remove test directories
rclone purge remote:test-uploads

# Clean up after migrations
rclone purge old-remote:migrated-data

# Remove empty project folders
rclone purge remote:archived/old-project-2019

NEVER Use For

# DON'T purge root
rclone purge remote:  # ❌ Deletes EVERYTHING!

# DON'T purge shared folders  
rclone purge team-drive:  # ❌ Affects everyone!

# DON'T purge without checking
rclone purge remote:folder  # ❌ What's in there?

# DON'T use to delete specific files
rclone purge remote:folder --include "*.tmp"  # ❌ Filters ignored!

Prevention

Use --dry-run to see what would be deleted without actually removing anything. This shows you the full impact before committing:

rclone purge remote:folder --dry-run

Use --interactive (or -i) to get prompted before each deletion.

This gives you a chance to confirm or cancel:

rclone purge remote:folder --interactive

Recovery

Unfortunately, recovery is usually impossible.

You can check the FAQ for the options you have.

Remember: There's no undo button for purge! Once it's gone, it's gone forever.

Double-check things you're unsure about with the official documentation.

Purge