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last update 19/02/2003 |
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rm
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Description
The rm (remove) is bsically used to delete a file, a link or a directory.
WARNING! Any deleted file cannot be recovered.
Use
Synopsis
rm [options] file1 file2...
rm is simply folowed by one or several options (not mandatory) and the followed by the name(s) of the file(s)
to be deleted. It is also possible to specify the name of a directory (-d or -r options). It is also
possible to use special tokens (*) in the file name (rm *.class, rm foo*).
Options
rm may be used with options. Here is the list:
| option | effect |
|---|---|
| -d, --directory | this option is used to delete a directory hard link. In practice, it is rarely used because the function ln does not allow the creation of hard links on directories. |
| -f, --force | Every specified file is removed without asking for confirmation (even read only files). Files that do not exist are ignored. This option is pretty dangerous, espexially with -r, so be careful... |
| -i, --interactive | interactive mode. Confirmation is granted for every file. Opposed to -f. |
| -r, -R, --recursive | recursive mode. rm will remove the contents of the given directory recursively, i.e. files and subdirectories. rm will also remove the given directory. It is a very dangerous option when used with -f. |
| -v, --verbose | verbose mode. rm will display on the standard output what it is doing. |
| --help | displays a help screen |
| --version | displays the current version of rm and quit |
These options may be conbimed.
Examples
rm foo.txt |
deletes the file called foo.txt located in the current directory |
rm -f foo/bar.c |
deletes the file called foo/bar.c (relative path) without asking for confirmation (option -f, see below) |
rm -r /home/my_home/rep1 |
deletes the directory /home/my_home/rep2 and its content (even hidden files but asks for confirmation |
rm -rf /home/my_home/rep2 |
deletes the directory /home/my_home/rep2 and its content (even hidden files) without asking for confirmation |
rm -rf /home/my_home/rep3/* |
deletes the content of the directory /home/my_home/rep3 (except hidden files) without asking for confirmation.
/home/my_home/rep2 is not deleted.
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Remarks
1. By default, rm asks for confirmation before removing a file (option -i). However, for normal Unix users, the rm command is often redefined with the -f option. It is then adviced to use the -i option as much as possible.
2. It also highly adviced to think (a lot!) before using 'rm -rf': everything is deleted without the possibilty
to recove them in case of mistake...
3. By default, rn does not remove directories. To remove an empty directory, it is better to use the rmdir dir
command rather than using a 'rm -r rep'. See also the tricks below.
Tricks
To remove directly a non empty directory, use (be beware of the -f option!):
rm -rf directory
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Note to handle hidden files: hidden files are deleted only when they explicitly named (rm .file, rm .*).
The only case when hidden files are deleted is when we ask rm to delete a complete directory with the -r option
(rm -r directory).
References
- the dedicated Unix man page (section 1):
man rm rm --help
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