When you are trying to delete too many files in a directory at the same time, it seems rm has limits (kernel limitation on the size of the parameters of the command).

Example of using find command to solve this problem:

find /home/mydir/ -name ‘*.ext’ -print0 | xargs -0 rm -f

where:

• ext = file extension (can be * , all files )
• -f, –force = ignore nonexistent files, never prompt
• xargs = parameter to pass the delete command

WARNING: be careful with this command, you can erase wrong folder/files !!!