Manual: rm

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 affir‐
       mative, 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.

       Any attempt to remove a file whose last file name component is '.' or '..'  is rejected with a diagnostic.

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

	      rm -- -foo

	      rm ./-foo

       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 unrecoverable, consider using shred(1).

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

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: 
       Report any translation bugs to 

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

       Full documentation 
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) rm invocation'

       Packaged by Ubuntu (9.7-3ubuntu2)
       Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later .
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

GNU coreutils 9.7					January 2026						       RM(1)