The “do shell script” command has the ability to run as an administrator
try this
do shell script "rm -rf ~/.Trash/*" user name "MyUser" password "test" with administrator privileges
This will run the command as root, provided “MyUser” is in the sudoers file
Hm. I can’t reproduce your success with that — if I’m reproducing it correctly, that is.
That’s interesting, thanks for the tip. Though, I think I’d rather have a dialog for the password than embed it in the code.
OK!
Here’s one with a prompt for password
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions
set pwd to ""
set pwd to display dialog "Please enter password for user MyUser…" default answer pwd with title "Password" with hidden answer
if button returned of pwd is "OK" then
set pwd to text returned of pwd
do shell script "rm -rf ~/.Trash/*" user name "MyUser" password pwd with administrator privileges
end if
Here is a better version that will loop on given a bad username/password combo until user cancels or gives valid credentials
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions
set pwd to ""
set dialogText to "Please enter password for user MyUser."
repeat
set pwd to display dialog dialogText default answer pwd with title "Enter Password…" with hidden answer
if button returned of pwd is "OK" then
set pwd to text returned of pwd
try
do shell script "rm -rf ~/.Trash/*" user name "MyUser" password pwd with administrator privileges
exit repeat
on error errStr number errorNumber
if errorNumber ≠ -60007 then -- The administrator user name or password was incorrect.
exit repeat
end if
set dialogText to "Error! The administrator user name or password was incorrect." & return & "Try again…"
end try
end if
end repeat
You’re going to hate me saying so but neither of those work! Maybe it’s macOS 11 ?
Make sure the loaded file is plain text. If you happen to be using Catalina, you may have a different default shell—zsh. This isn’t a necessary change, but avoiding the manual quoting is desirable.
[format]if osascript -e ‘do shell script “sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/*” with administrator privileges’;
then
osascript -e 'display notification “Trash was force emptied.” with title “OK” ’
else
osascript -e 'display notification “Trash was NOT force emptied!” with title “ERROR” ’
fi[/format]
Edited for clarity
Sorry, I had a test command i was using - “whoami”.
I put back “rm -rf ~/.Trash/*”
Try it now
also have you tried the empty trash command in the Finder
tell application "Finder" to empty trash
Well, I’ve tried many which ways, and post #2 from Marc Anthony works, which is always a plus! Thank you for that!
I was trying to get the external script working, so as to have the benefit of some sort of feedback notification, instead of it just working silently, but no variation of shell or whatever seems to work for that. Maybe an AppleScript equivalent is possible.
But that working script is obviously better than no result at all!
Thanks very much all for your tips and help.
You can use regular dialog statements in a try block.
set wordpass to (display dialog "An admin password is requested for super user access." with icon stop with title "Take heed!" default answer "password")'s text returned
try
do shell script "printf " & wordpass's quoted form & space & "| sudo -S env_reset,timestamp_timeout=0 rm -rf ~/.Trash/*"
set wordpass to ""
display dialog "The trash was force emptied."
on error
display dialog "That force emptying didn't go so well."
end try
I can’t get any of these scripts to empty the trash in Sonoma 14.7. Granted, four years has passed since this thread was created, and clearly Apple has made changes to macOS.
Is there a modified script that force-empties the trash in Sonoma and Sequoia?
#!/bin/zsh
#whatever runs this requires full disk access permissions
rm -rf ~/.Trash/* && rm -rf /Volumes/*/.Trashes/501/*
So AppleScript using the above as content for the document/file “force-empty-trash.sh”:
do shell script "/Users/[your_username]/Documents/shell-scripts/force-empty-trash.sh"
I totally agree with robertfern! 
In the end, the safest way is still using Finder’s “empty trash.”
The rm -Rf option can cause unintended file deletions if there’s a symbolic link in the trash
(I’ve learned that the hard way when deleting from Containers… sigh).
So, for a safer way, you’ll need accessibility access for:
/usr/bin/sudo -u SOME_USER /usr/bin/osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to empty the trash without warns before emptying'
Alternatively, if you have full disk access, you can use:
/usr/bin/sudo -u SOME_USER /usr/bin/find "/Users/SOME_USER/.Trash" -mindepth 1 -delete
These are both good methods to empty the trash safely. Hope this helps!
Looking at the script you posted in post #7, how would that need to be changed to just accept my user name and password please? I actually had to Google “sudoers” and it doesn’t look like something I’d like to mess with.
Edit: Also, if it matters, my terminal is using “zsh”.
In what sort of circumstances would you have a symbolic link in the trash ?
I tried to run the rm -rf ~/.Trash/* command directly as a shell command and also as an AppleScript with the do shell script command, and this only worked if the app used to run the command had “Full Disk Access” and in most cases “Accessibility” permissions enabled. The apps I’m referring to include Terminal, Script Editor, Script Debugger, FastScripts, Script Menu, and osascript. Prompting for a password did not make a difference.
BTW, I certainly agree that the standard methods for emptying the trash should normally be used, but there does appear to be instances where stuff gets stuck in the trash. In those cases, other approaches are probably needed.
My computer is running macOS Sequoia.
I also tried the rm -rf ~/.Trash/* command, with the below result.
Last login: Thu Mar 20 10:15:41 on ttys000
margehomer@MargeHomers-Mac-mini ~ % rm -rf ~/.Trash/*
zsh: sure you want to delete all the files in /Users/margehomer/.Trash [yn]? y
zsh: no matches found: /Users/margehomer/.Trash/*
margehomer@MargeHomers-Mac-mini ~ %
I’m running Sonoma 14.7.4
I’ve Googled “applescript to force empty trash” for hours, with little to show for it.
I did find something that works but it dates back to 2007 here on MacScripter, post #4 by StephanK, Empty the trash (again) - #3 by John_Love
activate application "Finder"
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder"
key code 51 using {option down, shift down, command down}
end tell
Homer712. I’m running Sequoia and you’re running Sonoma, and this could easily make a difference. FWIW, I ran the above shell command, and it completed without error and emptied the trash.
I then disabled Terminal’s Full Disk Access permission.
I then got the same result as you and the trash was not emptied.
I can’t tell you haw many times I’ve run into this issue . . . and still can’t remember to first check Full Disk Access. Checked, reset the Terminal (I think it may get “unset” during MacOS updates), but can’t be sure.
In any event, the “rm -rf ~/.Trash/*” is now working perfectly here as well.
Since macOS 12, “moving to trash” has some special meaning in certain cases—like when you move an app to the trash, it also gets removed from the Dock.
Because of that, I’ve made it a habit to move things to the trash first before deleting them.
I was mainly cleaning up unused application data by moving files under
$HOME/Library/Containers/com.some.app to the trash.
Since sandboxed application preference folders often contain a lot of symbolic links, I made the mistake of using rm -rf… and, well, it didn’t end well for me. Sigh… 
Since then, I’ve developed a bit of an rm -rf phobia… lol.
