RM(1)                   GENIX Programmer's Manual                   RM(1)



      NAME
           rm, rmdir  - remove (unlink) files

      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 termi-
           nal,  its  permissions are printed and a line is read from the stan-
           dard input.  If that line begins with `y' the file is deleted,  oth-
           erwise  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.

           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
           unlink(2)

      DIAGNOSTICS
           Generally self-explanatory.  It is forbidden to remove the file `..'
           merely  to  avoid the antisocial consequences of inadvertently doing
           something like `rm -r .*'.













      Printed 11/16/83                                                        1