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RM(1)                            User Commands                           RM(1)

NAME
       rm - remove files or directories

SYNOPSIS
       rm [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
       This manual page documents the GNU version of rm.  rm removes each
       specified file.  By default, it does not remove directories.

       If the -I or --interactive=once option is given, and there are more
       than three files or the -r, -R, or --recursive are given, then rm
       prompts the user for whether to proceed with the entire operation.  If
       the response is not affirmative, the entire command is aborted.

       Otherwise, if a file is unwritable, standard input is a terminal, and
       the -f or --force option is not given, or the -i or
       --interactive=always option is given, rm prompts the user for whether
       to remove the file.  If the response is not affirmative, the file is
       skipped.

OPTIONS
       Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).

       -f, --force
              ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt

       -i     prompt before every removal

       -I     prompt once before removing more than three files, or when
              removing recursively; less intrusive than -i, while still giving
              protection against most mistakes

       --interactive[=WHEN]
              prompt according to WHEN: never, once (-I), or always (-i);
              without WHEN, prompt always

       --one-file-system
              when removing a hierarchy recursively, skip any directory that
              is on a file system different from that of the corresponding
              command line argument

       --no-preserve-root
              do not treat '/' specially

       --preserve-root[=all]
              do not remove '/' (default); with 'all', reject any command line
              argument on a separate device from its parent

       -r, -R, --recursive
              remove directories and their contents recursively

       -d, --dir
              remove empty directories

       -v, --verbose
              explain what is being done

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

       By default, rm does not remove directories.  Use the --recursive (-r or
       -R) option to remove each listed directory, too, along with all of its
       contents.

       To remove a file whose name starts with a '-', for example '-foo', use
       one of these commands:

              rm -- -foo

              rm ./-foo

       Note that if you use rm to remove a file, it might be possible to
       recover some of its contents, given sufficient expertise and/or time.
       For greater assurance that the contents are truly unrecoverable,
       consider using shred(1).

AUTHOR
       Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard M. Stallman, and Jim
       Meyering.

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
       GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
       unlink(1), unlink(2), chattr(1), shred(1)

       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/rm>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) rm invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.1                 April 2022                             RM(1)