rm(1) - f29

1RM(1)                            User Commands                           RM(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       rm - remove files or directories
7

SYNOPSIS

9       rm [OPTION]... [FILE]...
10

DESCRIPTION

12       This  manual  page  documents  the  GNU version of rm.  rm removes each
13       specified file.  By default, it does not remove directories.
14
15       If the -I or --interactive=once option is given,  and  there  are  more
16       than  three  files  or  the  -r,  -R, or --recursive are given, then rm
17       prompts the user for whether to proceed with the entire operation.   If
18       the response is not affirmative, the entire command is aborted.
19
20       Otherwise,  if  a file is unwritable, standard input is a terminal, and
21       the -f or --force  option  is  not  given,  or  the  -i  or  --interac‐
22       tive=always  option is given, rm prompts the user for whether to remove
23       the file.  If the response is not affirmative, the file is skipped.
24

OPTIONS

26       Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).
27
28       -f, --force
29              ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt
30
31       -i     prompt before every removal
32
33       -I     prompt once before removing  more  than  three  files,  or  when
34              removing recursively; less intrusive than -i, while still giving
35              protection against most mistakes
36
37       --interactive[=WHEN]
38              prompt according to WHEN: never,  once  (-I),  or  always  (-i);
39              without WHEN, prompt always
40
41       --one-file-system
42              when  removing  a hierarchy recursively, skip any directory that
43              is on a file system different from  that  of  the  corresponding
44              command line argument
45
46       --no-preserve-root
47              do not treat '/' specially
48
49       --preserve-root[=all]
50              do not remove '/' (default); with 'all', reject any command line
51              argument on a separate device from its parent
52
53       -r, -R, --recursive
54              remove directories and their contents recursively
55
56       -d, --dir
57              remove empty directories
58
59       -v, --verbose
60              explain what is being done
61
62       --help display this help and exit
63
64       --version
65              output version information and exit
66
67       By default, rm does not remove directories.  Use the --recursive (-r or
68       -R)  option to remove each listed directory, too, along with all of its
69       contents.
70
71       To remove a file whose name starts with a '-', for example '-foo',  use
72       one of these commands:
73
74              rm -- -foo
75
76              rm ./-foo
77
78       Note  that  if  you  use  rm  to remove a file, it might be possible to
79       recover some of its contents, given sufficient expertise  and/or  time.
80       For  greater  assurance that the contents are truly unrecoverable, con‐
81       sider using shred.
82

AUTHOR

84       Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard M.  Stallman,  and  Jim
85       Meyering.
86

REPORTING BUGS

88       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
89       Report rm translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
90

COPYRIGHT

92       Copyright  ©  2018  Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
93       GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
94       This is free software: you are free  to  change  and  redistribute  it.
95       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
96