rm(1)								   User Commands							     rm(1)

NAME

       rm, rmdir - remove directory entries

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/bin/rm [-f] [-i] file...

       /usr/bin/rm -rR [-f] [-i] dirname... [file...]

       /usr/xpg4/bin/rm [-fiRr] file...

       /usr/bin/rmdir [-ps] dirname...

DESCRIPTION

   /usr/bin/rm /usr/xpg4/bin/rm
       The  rm	utility removes the directory entry specified by each file argument. 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.

       If  file  is a symbolic link, the link will be removed, but the file or directory to which it refers will not be deleted. Users do not need
       write permission to remove a symbolic link, provided they have write permissions in the directory.

       If multiple files are specified and removal of a file fails for any reason, rm will write a diagnostic message to standard error, do  noth-
       ing more to the current file, and go on to any remaining files.

       If the standard input is not a terminal, the utility will operate as if the -f option is in effect.

   /usr/bin/rmdir
       The rmdir utility will remove the directory entry specified by each dirname operand, which must refer to an empty directory.

       Directories will be processed in the order specified. If a directory and a subdirectory of that directory are specified in a single invoca-
       tion of rmdir, the subdirectory must be specified before the parent directory so that the parent directory will be empty when  rmdir  tries
       to remove it.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported for /usr/bin/rm and /usr/xpg4/bin/rm:

       -r	Recursively  removes  directories and subdirectories in the argument list. The directory will be emptied of files and removed. 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.

		Symbolic links that are encountered with this option will not be traversed.

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

       -R	Same as -r option.

   /usr/bin/rm
       The following options are supported for /usr/bin/rm only:

       -f	Removes all files (whether write-protected or not) in a directory without prompting the user. In a write-protected directory, how-
		ever, files are never removed (whatever their permissions are), but no messages are displayed. If the removal of a write-protected
		directory is attempted, this option will not suppress an error message.

       -i	Interactive.  With  this  option, rm prompts for confirmation before removing any files. It overrides the -f option and remains in
		effect even if the standard input is not a terminal.

   /usr/xpg4/bin/rm
       The following options are supported for /usr/xpg4/bin/rm only:

       -f	Does not prompt for confirmation. Does not write diagnostic messages or modify the exit status in the case of  non-existent  oper-
		ands. Any previous occurrences of the -i option will be ignored.

       -i	Prompts for confirmation. Any occurrences of the -f option will be ignored.

   /usr/bin/rmdir
       The following options are supported for /usr/bin/rmdir only:

       -p	Allows users to remove the directory dirname and its parent directories which become empty. A message is printed to standard error
		if all or part of the path could not be removed.

       -s	Suppresses the message printed on the standard error when -p is in effect.

OPERANDS

       The following operands are supported:

       file	       A path name of a directory entry to be removed.

       dirname	       A path name of an empty directory to be removed.

USAGE

       See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of rm and rmdir when encountering files greater than or equal to  2  Gbyte	(  2 **31
       bytes).

EXAMPLES

       The following examples are valid for the commands shown.

   /usr/bin/rm /usr/xpg4/bin/rm
       Example 1: Removing directories

       The following command:

       example% rm a.out core

       removes the directory entries a.out and core.

       Example 2: Removing a directory without prompting

       The following command:

       example% rm -rf junk

       removes the directory junk and all its contents, without prompting.

   /usr/bin/rmdir
       Example 3: Removing empty directories

       If  a  directory  a  in	the  current directory is empty, except that it contains a directory b, and a/b is empty except that it contains a
       directory c, the following command will remove all three directories:

       example% rmdir -p a/b/c

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of rm and rmdir: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE,
       LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0	If  the  -f  option  was  not specified, all the named directory entries were removed; otherwise, all the existing named directory
		entries were removed.

       >0	An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

   /usr/bin/rm /usr/bin/rmdir
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |CSI			     |enabled			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

   /usr/xpg4/bin/rm
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWxcu4			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |CSI			     |enabled			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Standard			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       rmdir(2), unlink(2), attributes(5), environ(5), largefile(5), standards(5)

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:

       example% rm -r .*

       It is forbidden to remove the file "/" in order to avoid the consequences of inadvertently doing something like:

       example% rm -rf $x/$y

       or

       example% rm -rf /$y

       when $x and $y expand to empty strings.

NOTES

       A - permits the user to mark explicitly the end of any command line options, allowing rm to recognize file arguments that begin with  a	-.
       As  an  aid  to	BSD migration, rm will accept -- as a synonym for -. This migration aid may disappear in a future release. If a -- and a -
       both appear on the same command line, the second will be interpreted as a file.

SunOS 5.10							    26 Jan 2001 							     rm(1)