RM(1)                                                       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 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, 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.

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

          rmdir removes the named directories, which must be empty.

          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 was attempted,
               this option cannot 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.

               If the removal of a non-empty, write-protected
               directory was attempted, the command will always fail
               (even if the -f option is used), resulting in an error
               message.



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     RM(1)                                                       RM(1)



          -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.

          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 as to 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.

     ORIGIN
          AT&T V.3






















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