HPUX rm[1]
rm(1) rm(1)
NAME
rm - remove files or directories
SYNOPSIS
rm [-f|-i] [-Rr] file ...
DESCRIPTION
rm removes the entries for one or more files from a directory. If an
entry was the last link to the file, the file is destroyed. Removal
of a file requires write and search (execute) permission in its
directory, but no permissions on the file itself; but if the sticky
bit is set on the directory containing the file, only the owner of the
file, the owner of the directory, or a user having appropriate
privileges can remove the file.
If a user does not have write permission for a file to be removed and
the standard input is a terminal, a prompt containing the file name
and its permissions is printed requesting that the removal of the file
be confirmed (see Access Control Lists below). A line is then read
from the standard input. If that line begins with y the file is
deleted; otherwise, the file remains. No questions are asked when the
-f option is given or if the standard input is not a terminal.
If file is of type directory, and -f option is not specified, and
either the permissions of file do not permit writing and the standard
input is a terminal or the -i option is specified, rm writes a prompt
to standard error and reads a line form the standard input. If the
response is not affirmative, it does nothing more with the current
file and goes on to any remaining files.
Options
rm recognizes the following options:
-f Force each file or directory to be removed without prompting
for confirmation, regardless of the permissions of the
entry. This option also suppresses diagnostic messages
regarding non-existent operands.
This option does not suppress any diagnostic messages other
than those regarding non-existent operands. To suppress all
error message and interactive prompts, the -f option should
be used while redirecting the standard error output to
/dev/null.
-i Write a prompt to the standard error output requesting
confirmation before removing each entry. This option is
ignored when used in conjunction with the -f option.
-R For each argument that is a directory, this option causes rm
to recursively delete the entire contents of that directory
before removing the directory itself. When used in
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rm(1) rm(1)
conjunction with the -i option, rm asks whether to examine
each directory before interactively removing files in that
directory and again afterward to confirm removing the
directory itself.
-r Equivalent to -R.
Access Control Lists (ACLs).
If a file has optional ACL entries, rm displays a plus sign (+) after
the file's permissions. The permissions shown summarize the file's
st_mode value returned by stat() (see stat(2)). See also acl(5).
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables
LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of filenames as single and/or
multi-byte characters for the rm command.
LANG determines the language in which messages are displayed and
determines the local language equivalent of y (for yes/no) queries.
If LC_CTYPE is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty
string, the value of LANG is used as a default for each unspecified or
empty variable. If LANG is not specified or is set to the empty
string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of LANG. If
any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, rm
behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C". See
environ(5).
International Code Set Support
Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.
DIAGNOSTICS
Generally self-explanatory. Note that the -f option does not suppress
all diagnostic messages.
It is forbidden to remove the file .. in order to avoid the
consequences of inadvertently using a command such as:
rm -r .*
If a designated file is a directory, an error comment is printed
unless the -R or -r option is used.
EXAMPLES
Remove files with a prompt for verification:
rm -i filenames
Remove all the files in a directory:
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rm(1) rm(1)
rm -i directoryname/*
Note that this command removes files only, and does not remove any
directories in directoryname.
Remove file in current directory whose name starts with - or some
other character that is special to the shell:
rm ./-filename
rm ./\*filename
etc.
Remove file in current directory whose name starts with some strange
(usually non-printing, invisible) character or perhaps has spaces at
the beginning or end of the filename:
rm ./*filename*
*filename* must be unique in the directory or other files will also be
removed.
A powerful and dangerous command to remove a directory is:
rm -fR directoryname
or
rm -Rf directoryname
which removes all files and directories from directoryname without any
prompting for verification to remove the files or the directories.
This command should only be used when absolutely certain that all the
files and directories in directoryname as well as directoryname itself
are to be removed.
DEPENDENCIES
NFS
rm does not display a plus sign (+) to indicate the existence of
optional access control list entries when asking for confirmation
before removing a networked file.
SEE ALSO
unlink(2), acl(5).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
rm: SVID2, XPG2, XPG3, POSIX.2
rmdir: SVID2, XPG2, XPG3, POSIX.2
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