rm(C)                           19 June 1992                           rm(C)


 Name

    rm - remove files or directories

 Syntax

    rm [ -fri ] file ...

 Description

    The rm command removes the entries for one or more files from a direc-
    tory.  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 is a symbolic
    link, the link will be removed, but the file or directory to which it
    refers will not be deleted.

    If the user does not have write permission on a specified file and the
    standard input is a terminal, the user is prompted for confirmation.  The
    file's name and permissions are printed and a line is read from the stan-
    dard input.  If that line begins with y, the file is deleted; otherwise,
    the file remains.  If the -f option is given or if the standard input is
    not a terminal, no messages are issued; files are simply removed.

    rm will not delete directories unless the -r option is used.

 Options

    The following options are recognized.

    -f When invoked with the -f option, rm does not prompt the user for con-
       firmation for files on which the user does not have write permission.
       The files are simply removed.

    -r The -r (recursive) option causes rm to recursively delete the entire
       contents of the any directories specified, and the directories them-
       selves. Symbolic links encountered with this option will not be
       traversed.  Note that the rmdir(C) command is a safer way of removing
       directories.

    -i The -i (interactive) option causes rm to ask whether to delete each
       file, and if the -r option is in effect, whether to examine each
       directory.

    The special option ``--'' can be used to delimit options.  For example, a
    file named ``-f'' could not be removed by rm because the hyphen is inter-
    preted as an option; the command rm -f would do nothing, since no file is
    specified.  Using rm -- -f removes the file successfully.

 See also

    chmod(C), rmdir(C)

 Notes

    It is forbidden to remove the file .. to avoid the consequences of inad-
    vertently doing something like:

       rm -r .*

    It is also forbidden to remove the root directory of a given file system.

    No more than 17 levels of subdirectories can be removed using the -r
    option.

    If the ``sticky'' (t) bit is set on a directory, only the owner of a file
    can remove that file from the directory.  See chmod(C) for more informa-
    tion about ``sticky'' bits.

 Standards conformance

    rm is conformant with:

    AT&T SVID Issue 2;
    and X/Open Portability Guide, Issue 3, 1989.