Is it safe to remove contents from var / swapfile / tmp?

Question

The thing is /home has only used 11GB whereas /var uses 14GB, /temp 11GB and /swapfile 2.4GB
Can I safely do sudo rm * in the last three directories?
Contents from sudo du /var | sort -n | tail -20
679376  /var/snap/microk8s/common/run
683324  /var/lib/docker/overlay2/3ecccaf38f1f0837b174563be1ce108c862264359047750fd3daceae9a015182/diff/usr
683424  /var/lib/docker/overlay2/2313ac4c63c3915860ed097576334e5167ca94569ebfafd585f30d456dd1e33b/diff/usr
735748  /var/lib/docker/overlay2/3ecccaf38f1f0837b174563be1ce108c862264359047750fd3daceae9a015182/diff
735756  /var/lib/docker/overlay2/3ecccaf38f1f0837b174563be1ce108c862264359047750fd3daceae9a015182
735840  /var/lib/docker/overlay2/2313ac4c63c3915860ed097576334e5167ca94569ebfafd585f30d456dd1e33b/diff
735848  /var/lib/docker/overlay2/2313ac4c63c3915860ed097576334e5167ca94569ebfafd585f30d456dd1e33b
879292  /var/snap/microk8s/common/var/lib/containerd
954104  /var/snap/microk8s/common/var/lib
1161476 /var/snap/microk8s/common/var
1451924 /var/lib/docker/volumes
1840856 /var/snap/microk8s/common
1878948 /var/snap/microk8s
1879156 /var/snap
2923700 /var/lib/snapd/snaps
3967480 /var/lib/snapd
4971824 /var/lib/docker/overlay2
6437580 /var/lib/docker
10813292    /var/lib
12804788    /var

fr0stbyte · Answer

/var
I found a post which lists the contents of /var. Check it out here (go to the near bottom of the page to see what I mean): https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18514447/what-goes-in-var.
Judging from the contents, I wouldn't remove the data in it.
/tmp
The /tmp directory holds temporary files which may be needed in the session you are in. Since these files are needed by processes and programs, I wouldn't delete them, otherwise an error or breakage may occur.
It clears itself after every reboot, anyway. Something's wrong if it doesn't.
/swap
/swap (or a swap file) is the space in which inactive programs are put to allocate memory to active ones when a machine demands more memory than it can give. I don't know how intensely you use your computer, though, so I can't assess if you need it.
You may need /swap because:

You have a low amount of RAM, and you want to use what you have to the best of your ability.
You use programs that are intense on resources, and it may eat up your RAM
You use hibernation, and the contents of the RAM is written to swap
Programs can act weird and unnecessarily hog your RAM.

Source: https://itsfoss.com/swap-size/#:~:text=There%20are%20several%20reasons%20why,would%20exhaust%20the%20RAM%20soon.&text=If%20you%20use%20hibernation%2C%20then,written%20to%20the%20swap%20partition.
Now, you might have a lot of RAM. You probably wouldn't need any swap at all. But it's worth having at least a few gigabytes of swap just in case something happens which uses all your RAM.
To be on the safe side, I would recommend having at least some swap. I don't recommend deleting swap entirely.
Conclusion
I wouldn't delete any of these directories. Although it does seem like your /var and /tmp directories are quite filled. I don't really know what's up with that.
Hope it helps!

Artem S. Tashkinov · Answer

The info you've given is all mixed up.
I presume you're talking about
/var
/tmp
/swapfile

You absolutely cannot rm -rf /var - you system may become unbootable.

You may safely delete everything from /tmp and /var/tmp.

Deleting /swapfile without first removing this entry from /etc/fstab is not advisable. Also, if you're low on RAM (4GB or less) /swapfile might be crucial for proper system functioning.

If you have a normal home PC /var shouldn't occupy 14GB.
Please post the output of sudo du /var | sort -n | tail -20

Is it safe to remove contents from var / swapfile / tmp?

2 Answers

`/var`

`/tmp`

`/swap`

Conclusion

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