rm Command

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.