Title: Can't Delete Theme!!
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Can't Delete Theme!!

 *  Resolved [mmcmahon](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mmcmahon/)
 * (@mmcmahon)
 * [15 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cant-delete-theme/)
 * I’m trying to delete a theme from my httpdocs. I get this error message:
 * /httpdocs/wp-content/themes/oulipo/images: Directory not empty.
 * However, I NEED to delete it because it had an install failure and did not install
   the style sheet. I need to delete it and re-install. Help!!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [Mraztek](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mraztek/)
 * (@mraztek)
 * [15 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cant-delete-theme/#post-1749092)
 * The reason is because the directory is NOT empty. It has at least one file under
   it somewhere that begins with a period (.) so that it is hidden or invisible 
   to the regular ‘ls’ command.
 * In order to see and delete these hidden files,
 * 1) Get a shell prompt and type:
 * ls -la /htdocs/www/dirname
 * where /htdocs/www/dirname is the full path to the directory that you are trying
   to delete. Doing that will show you all the hidden files inside the directory.
   You can then delete the hidden file individually like this:
 * rm -f /htdocs/www/dirname/.hiddenfile
 * Or you can just delete the entire directory without regard to what is still inside
   it by typing:
 * rm -rf /htdocs/www/dirname
 * 2) To delete a directory that still has hidden files in it with your FTP program,
   first turn on your ability to see hidden files with your FTP program. Then click
   on the revealed hidden file and delete it with your FTP program as you normally
   would any other file. When you’ve gotten rid of all the hidden files, you will
   be able to delete the directory that they were under.
 * Files that begin with a ‘.’ are hidden. Generally, these files contain configuration
   information and are hidden so that they are not accidentally deleted. If you 
   need to modify a hidden file like .htaccess, then you will need to view hidden
   files so you can delete and upload them.
 * There are several ways to edit, delete, and upload hidden files. If you are using
   an FTP client, you should be able to change the settings so that your hidden 
   files are viewable.
 * 🙂 or best of all if its a share account just ask your host for help!
 *  Thread Starter [mmcmahon](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mmcmahon/)
 * (@mmcmahon)
 * [15 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cant-delete-theme/#post-1749196)
 * Thanks for detailed reply! I was trying to delete it from my FTP client, however
   I still couldn’t. I ended up re-naming the folder so that I could at least install
   the theme (as it wouldn’t install as a folder was already created). Now I have
   a folder named 123, so I’ll follow your instructions in order to get rid of it!!
 * Thanks!
    m

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Can't Delete Theme!!’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [mmcmahon](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mmcmahon/)
 * Last activity: [15 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cant-delete-theme/#post-1749196)
 * Status: resolved

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