BASH: how to delete a huge number of directories containing directories and files?

Question

linux

Actually, subject.
There is an abstract /data/maindir containing many subdirectories containing several more levels of subdirectories and small files at the lowest level.
How to clean up /data/maindir as quickly as possible (you don't need to delete this directory)?

Answer 1

It will not work quickly, alas ...
There are several options, the very first is to rename this directory and create a new one in its place with the same name and rights.
And already leisurely clean the renamed directory.
It is best, of course, to mount the partition at this point, and format it if necessary.

Answer 2

rm -r /data/maindir/* ??

Answer 3

find /pathto [ options ] -delete
deletes what is set and the fastest,
and without the -delete key, you can check that the list is the one you wanted.

Answer 4

If the size is not large, but just a large number of files, then you can do tmpfs (in RAM), then it will be deleted faster.