RM(1) RM(1) NAME rm, rmdir - remove (unlink) files SYNOPSIS rm [ -f ] [ -r ] [ -i ] file ... DESCRIPTION Rm 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. If an entry is a directory it is removed only if empty. 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, its permissions are printed and a line is read from the standard input. If that line begins with `y' the file is deleted, otherwise the file remains. No questions are asked and no errors are reported when the -f (force) option is given. Option -r causes rm to recursively delete the entire contents of a 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. SEE ALSO unlink(2), rmdir(8) DIAGNOSTICS Generally self-explanatory. It is forbidden to remove the file `..' merely to avoid the antisocial consequences of inadvertently doing something like `rm -r .*'.