RM(1)

NAME
rm, rmdir - remove (unlink) files or directories

SYNOPSIS
rm [ -f ] [ -r ] [ -i ] [ - ] file ...

rmdir dir ...

DESCRIPTION
Rm removes the entries for one or more files from a directory. If an entry was the last link to the file, the file is destroyed. Removal of a file requires write permission in its directory, but neither read nor write permission on the file itself.

If a file has no write permission and the standard input is a terminal, its permissions are printed and a line is read from the standard input. If that line begins with `y' the file is deleted, otherwise the file remains. No questions are asked and no errors are reported when the -f (force) option is given.

If a designated file is a directory, an error comment is printed unless the optional argument -r has been used. In that case, rm recursively deletes the entire contents of the specified directory, and the directory itself.

rm will refuse to delete files '.' and '..', even if -f is specified.

If the -i (interactive) option is in effect, rm asks whether to delete each file, and, under -r, whether to examine each directory.

The null option - indicates that all the arguments following it are to be treated as file names. This allows the specification of file names starting with a minus.

Rmdir removes entries for the named directories, which must be empty.

SEE ALSO
rm(1), unlink(2), rmdir(2)