.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.33.
.TH RM "1" "March 2004" "rm (coreutils) 5.2.1" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
rm \- remove files or directories
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B rm
[\fIOPTION\fR]... \fIFILE\fR...
.SH DESCRIPTION
This manual page
documents the GNU version of
.BR rm .
.B rm
removes each specified file.  By default, it does not remove
directories.
.P
If a file is unwritable, the standard input is a tty, and
the \fI\-f\fR or \fI\-\-force\fR option is not given,
.B rm
prompts the user for whether to remove the file.  If the response
does not begin with `y' or `Y', the file is skipped.
.SH OPTIONS
.PP
Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).
.TP
\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-directory\fR
unlink FILE, even if it is a non-empty directory
(super-user only; this works only if your system
.IP
supports `unlink' for nonempty directories)
.TP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-force\fR
ignore nonexistent files, never prompt
.TP
\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-interactive\fR
prompt before any removal
.HP
\fB\-\-no\-preserve\-root\fR do not treat `/' specially (the default)
.TP
\fB\-\-preserve\-root\fR
fail to operate recursively on `/'
.TP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-R\fR, \fB\-\-recursive\fR
remove the contents of directories recursively
.TP
\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
explain what is being done
.TP
\fB\-\-help\fR
display this help and exit
.TP
\fB\-\-version\fR
output version information and exit
.PP
To remove a file whose name starts with a `-', for example `-foo',
use one of these commands:
.IP
rm \fB\-\-\fR \fB\-foo\fR
.IP
rm ./-foo
.PP
Note that if you use rm to remove a file, it is usually possible to recover
the contents of that file.  If you want more assurance that the contents are
truly unrecoverable, consider using shred.
.SH AUTHOR
Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard Stallman, and Jim Meyering.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs to .
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.br
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
chattr(1), shred(1)
.PP
The full documentation for
.B rm
is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the
.B info
and
.B rm
programs are properly installed at your site, the command
.IP
.B info coreutils rm
.PP
should give you access to the complete manual.

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