rm(1)                 UNIX System V(Essential Utilities)                  rm(1)


NAME
      rm, rmdir - remove files or directories

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

      rmdir [-p] [-s] dirname ...

DESCRIPTION
      rm removes the entries for one or more files from a directory.  If a file
      has no write permission and the standard input is a terminal, the full
      set of permissions (in octal) for the file are printed followed by a
      question mark. This is a prompt for confirmation.  If the answer begins
      with y (for yes), the file is deleted, otherwise the file remains.

      If file is a symbolic link, the link will be removed, but the file or
      directory to which it refers will not be deleted. A user does not need
      write permission on a symbolic link to remove it, provided they have
      write permissions in the directory.

      Note that if the standard input is not a terminal, the command will
      operate as if the -f option is in effect.

      Three options apply to rm:

      -f   This option causes the removal of all files (whether write-protected
           or not) in a directory without prompting the user.  In a write-
           protected directory, however, files are never removed (whatever
           their permissions are), but no messages are displayed. If the
           removal of a write-protected directory is attempted, this option
           will not suppress an error message.

      -r   This option causes the recursive removal of any directories and
           subdirectories in the argument list.  The directory will be emptied
           of files and removed.  Note that the user is normally prompted for
           removal of any write-protected files which the directory contains.
           The write-protected files are removed without prompting, however, if
           the -f option is used, or if the standard input is not a terminal
           and the -i option is not used.
           Symbolic links that are encountered with this option will not be
           traversed.
           If the removal of a non-empty, write-protected directory is
           attempted, the command will always fail (even if the -f option is
           used), resulting in an error message.

      -i   With this option, confirmation of removal of any write-protected
           file occurs interactively.  It overrides the -f option and remains
           in effect even if the standard input is not a terminal.





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rm(1)                 UNIX System V(Essential Utilities)                  rm(1)


      Two options apply to rmdir:

      -p   This option allows users to remove the directory dirname and its
           parent directories which become empty.  A message is printed on
           standard output about whether the whole path is removed or part of
           the path remains for some reason.

      -s   This option is used to suppress the message printed on standard
           error when -p is in effect.

DIAGNOSTICS
      All messages are generally self-explanatory.
      It is forbidden to remove the files "." and ".."  in order to avoid the
      consequences of inadvertently doing something like the following:
            rm -r .*

      Both rm and rmdir return exit codes of 0 if all the specified directories
      are removed successfully.  Otherwise, they return a non-zero exit code.

SEE ALSO
      unlink(2), rmdir(2) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.

NOTES
      A -- permits the user to mark explicitly the end of any command line
      options, allowing rm to recognize filename arguments that begin with a -.
      As an aid to BSD migration, rm will accept - as a synonym for --.  This
      migration aid may disappear in a future release.  If a -- and a - both
      appear on the same command line, the second will be interpreted as a
      filename.

























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