rm.md

rm

remove files or directories

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References

• man rm

Notice

Remove Directory

By default, it does not remove directories.

Use the --recursive (-r or -R) option to remove each listed directory, too, along with all of its contents.

Filename with prefix -

To remove a file whose name starts with a '-', for example '-foo', use one of these commands:

rm -- -foo
rm ./-foo

Shard

Note that if you use rm to remove a file, it might be possible to recover some of its contents, given sufficient expertise and/or time.

For greater assurance that the contents are truly unrecoverable, consider using shred.

Options

Directory

• -r, -R, --recursive Remove directories and their contents recursively
• -d, --dir Remove empty directories

Prompt

• -f, --force Ignore nonexistent files and arguments, 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

Protection

• --preserve-root Do not remove '/' (default)
• --no-preserve-root Do not treat '/' specially
• --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

Usage

Default

rm <file>
# e.g.
rm -rf path/to/file

Prompt

i for interactive

rm -i <file>

# e.g.
$ rm -i txt
rm: remove regular file ‘txt’? y

Directory

Forcedly & Recursively

• It can applied to directory.

rm -rf <file_or_dir>
# e.g.
rm -rf path/to/directory