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9f66c60a C |
1 | .TH RM 1 "1 April 1981" |
2 | .UC 4 | |
3 | .SH NAME | |
4 | rm, rmdir \- remove (unlink) files or directories | |
5 | .SH SYNOPSIS | |
6 | .B rm | |
7 | [ | |
8 | .B \-f | |
9 | ] [ | |
10 | .B \-r | |
11 | ] [ | |
12 | .B \-i | |
13 | ] [ | |
14 | .B \- | |
15 | ] file ... | |
16 | .PP | |
17 | .B rmdir | |
18 | dir ... | |
19 | .PP | |
20 | .SH DESCRIPTION | |
21 | .I Rm | |
22 | removes the entries for one or more files from a directory. | |
23 | If an entry was the last link to the file, the file is destroyed. | |
24 | Removal of a file requires write permission in its directory, | |
25 | but neither read nor write permission on the file itself. | |
26 | .PP | |
27 | If a file has no write permission and the standard input is a terminal, | |
28 | its permissions are printed and a line is read from the standard input. | |
29 | If that line begins with `y' the file is deleted, otherwise the file remains. | |
30 | No questions are asked and no errors are reported when the | |
31 | .B \-f | |
32 | (force) option is given. | |
33 | .PP | |
34 | If a designated file is a directory, | |
35 | an error comment is printed unless the optional argument | |
36 | .B \-r | |
37 | has been used. In that case, | |
38 | .I rm | |
39 | recursively deletes the entire contents of the specified directory, | |
40 | and the directory itself. | |
41 | .PP | |
42 | If the | |
43 | .B \-i | |
44 | (interactive) option is in effect, | |
45 | .I rm | |
46 | asks whether to delete each file, and, under | |
47 | .BR \-r , | |
48 | whether to examine each directory. | |
49 | .PP | |
50 | The null option | |
51 | .B \- | |
52 | indicates that all the arguments following it are to be treated as | |
53 | file names. This allows the specification of file names starting with | |
54 | a minus. | |
55 | .PP | |
56 | .I Rmdir | |
57 | removes entries for the named directories, which must be empty. | |
58 | .SH "SEE ALSO" | |
59 | rm(1), unlink(2), rmdir(2) |