RM

rm − remove files or directories

rm [OPTION]... FILE...

This manual page documents the GNU version of rm. rm removes each specified file. By default, it does not remove directories.

If the −I or −−interactive=once option is given, and there are more than three files or the −r, −R, or −−recursive are given, then rm prompts the user for whether to proceed with the entire operation. If the response is not affirmative, the entire command is aborted.

Otherwise, if a file is unwritable, standard input is a terminal, and the −f or −−force option is not given, or the −i or −−interactive=always option is given, rm prompts the user for whether to remove the file. If the response is not affirmative, the file is skipped.

Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).

−f, −−force

ignore nonexistent files, never prompt

−i

prompt before every removal

−I

prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing recursively. Less intrusive than −i, while still giving protection against most mistakes

−−interactive[=WHEN]

prompt according to WHEN: never, once (−I), or always (−i). Without WHEN, prompt always

−−one−file−system

when removing a hierarchy recursively, skip any directory that is on a file system different from that of the corresponding command line argument

−−no−preserve−root

do not treat ‘/’ specially

−−preserve−root

do not remove ‘/’ (default)

−r, −R, −−recursive

remove directories and their contents recursively

−v, −−verbose

explain what is being done

−−help

display this help and exit

−−version

output version information and exit

By default, rm does not remove directories. Use the −−recursive (−r or −R) option to remove each listed directory, too, along with all of its contents.

To remove a file whose name starts with a ‘−’, for example ‘−foo’, use one of these commands:

rm −− −foo

rm ./−foo

Note that if you use rm to remove a file, it is usually possible to recover the contents of that file. If you want more assurance that the contents are truly unrecoverable, consider using shred.

Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard M. Stallman, and Jim Meyering.

Report rm bugs to bug−coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report rm translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

Copyright © 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

unlink(1), unlink(2), chattr(1), shred(1)

The full documentation for rm is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and rm programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info coreutils 'rm invocation'

should give you access to the complete manual.