>> Faster than rsync cd folder_to_delete # perl -e 'for(<*>){((stat)[9]<(unlink))}' >> Other options: cd folder_to_delete find . -type f -exec rm -f {} \; folder_to_delete for i in $(echo *); do echo "Deleting : $i"; rm -f $i; done rsync -av --delete /path/empty_dir /path/folder_to_delete