Restore action in Terminal?

[Leetah]

Hi!

I inserted this command in the Terminal> rm -rf /private/var/.elm_cache but with the space after var/ so> rm -rf /private/var/ .elm_cach and now Im experiencing some problems, especially with passwords and accessing accounts settings. Is there anyway I can restore default settings or what can I do?

Really need help.

 

[lostngone]

Not pretty...

Do you have any back-ups?

Did you do this as root or with elevated privileges(sudo)? Looking at my /private/var I don't see much you could hurt as a default user.

I would say re-install...

 

[miles01110]

rm is a very dangerous thing to be using. You'll probably have to reinstall if you don't have a backup to be sure everything is working correctly.

 

[RoninXI]

The only thing I see wrong is rm -rf /private/var/ .elm_cach
should be rm -rf /private/var/\ .elm_cach
That forward slash is an escape telling it that the path is not complete keep going it will then keep looking past spaces til it hits the end of the line or a space. Terminal read rm -rf /private/var/ because it reads the space as the end of the path. Think of it this way, when you use the move command
mv /path/to/file /new/path/to/file
that space told it "that is the end of the first path, now look for destination path."

 

[Cromulent]

Hi!

I inserted this command in the Terminal> rm -rf /private/var/.elm_cache but with the space after var/ so> rm -rf /private/var/ .elm_cach and now Im experiencing some problems, especially with passwords and accessing accounts settings. Is there anyway I can restore default settings or what can I do?

Really need help.

Looks like a reinstall is your only option or maybe a backup if you have one. Let it be a lesson not to mess with the Terminal unless you know what you are doing - especially when using the rm -rf command.