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 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.

OPTIONS

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.

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

REPORTING BUGS
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/>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2009 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.

SEE ALSO
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.