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Man Page Minute - rm

RM(1)                 User Commands                 RM(1)

NAME
rm - remove files or directories

SYNOPSIS
rm [OPTION]… FILE…

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

If a file is unwritable, the standard input is a tty,  and  the    -f  or
–force    option is not given, rm prompts the user for whether to remove
the file.  If the response is not affirmative, the file is skipped.

OPTIONS
Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).

-d, –directory
unlink FILE, even if it is  a  non-empty    directory  (super-user
only; this works only if your system

supports unlink for nonempty directories)

-f, –force
ignore nonexistent files, never prompt

-i, –interactive
prompt before any removal

–no-preserve-root do not treat / specially (the default)

–preserve-root
fail to operate recursively on /

-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.

AUTHOR
Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard Stallman, and Jim  Mey
ering.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright  2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This  is  free  software.   You may redistribute copies of it under the
terms      of      the       GNU        General      Public       License
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.     There    is NO WARRANTY, to the
extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
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 com
mand

info rm

should give you access to the complete manual.

rm 5.93                May 2006                 RM(1)