rm(1) rm(1)
NAME
rm, rmdir - remove files or directories
SYNOPSIS
rm [-f] [-i] [-r] file ...
rmdir dir ...
DESCRIPTION
rm removes the entries for one or more files from a
directory. If an entry was the last link to the file, the
file is destroyed. Removal of a file requires write
permission in its directory, but neither read nor write
permission on the file itself.
If a file has no write permission and the standard input is
a terminal, its permissions are printed and a line is read
from the standard input. If that line begins with y the
file is deleted, otherwise the file remains. No questions
are asked when the -f flag option is given or if the
standard input is not a terminal. The -f flag option also
prevents all error messages from being printed.
If a designated file is a directory, an error comment is
printed unless the optional argument -r has been used. In
that case, rm recursively deletes the entire contents of the
specified directory, and the directory itself.
If the -i (interactive) flag option is in effect, rm asks
whether to delete each file, and, under -r, whether to
examine each directory.
rmdir removes entries for the named directories, which must
be empty.
EXAMPLE
rm -rf dirname
will remove the entire contents of the named directory and
all subdirectories, and finally the directory itself, with
no questions asked.
FILES
/bin/rm
/bin/rmdir
SEE ALSO
unlink(2).
DIAGNOSTICS
Generally self-explanatory. It is forbidden to remove the
file .. merely to avoid the antisocial consequences of
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rm(1) rm(1)
inadvertently doing something like:
rm -r .*
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