RM(1) OpenBSD Reference Manual RM(1)NAMErm - remove directory entries
SYNOPSISrm [-dfiPRr] file ...
DESCRIPTION
The rm utility attempts to remove the non-directory type files specified
on the command line. If the permissions of the file do not permit
writing, and the standard input device is a terminal, the user is
prompted (on the standard error output) for confirmation.
The options are as follows:
-d Attempt to remove directories as well as other types of files.
-f Attempt to remove the files without prompting for confirmation,
regardless of the file's permissions. If the file does not
exist, do not display a diagnostic message or modify the exit
status to reflect an error. The -f option overrides any previous
-i options.
-i Request confirmation before attempting to remove each file,
regardless of the file's permissions, or whether or not the
standard input device is a terminal. The -i option overrides any
previous -f options.
-P Overwrite regular files before deleting them. Files are
overwritten three times, first with the byte pattern 0xff, then
0x00, and then 0xff again, before they are deleted. Files with
multiple links will be unlinked but not overwritten.
-R Attempt to remove the file hierarchy rooted in each file
argument. The -R option implies the -d option. If the -i option
is specified, the user is prompted for confirmation before each
directory (and its contents) are processed. If the user does not
respond affirmatively, the file hierarchy rooted in that
directory is skipped.
-r Equivalent to -R.
The rm utility removes symbolic links, not the files referenced by the
links.
It is an error to attempt to remove the files ``.'' or ``..''. It is
forbidden to remove the file ``..'' merely to avoid the antisocial
consequences of inadvertently doing something like ``rm -r .*''.
EXIT STATUS
The rm utility exits 0 if all of the named files or file hierarchies were
removed, or if the -f option was specified and all of the existing files
or file hierarchies were removed. If an error occurs, rm exits with a
value >0.
EXAMPLES
Recursively remove all files contained within the foobar directory
hierarchy:
$ rm-rf foobar
Either of these commands will remove the file -f:
$ rm-- -f
$ rm ./-f
SEE ALSOrmdir(1), unlink(2), fts(3), symlink(7)STANDARDS
The rm utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (``POSIX'')
specification.
The flags [-dP] are extensions to that specification.
IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (``POSIX'') requires rm to act like rmdir(1) when
the file specified is a directory. This implementation requires the -d
option if such behavior is desired. This follows the historical behavior
of rm with respect to directories.
The rm utility differs from historical implementations in that the -f
option only masks attempts to remove non-existent files instead of
masking a large variety of errors.
Also, historical BSD implementations prompted on the standard output, not
the standard error output.
The interactive mode used to be a dsw command, a carryover from the
ancient past with an amusing etymology.
HISTORY
An rm command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
BUGS
The -P option assumes that the underlying file system is a fixed-block
file system, such as UFS. In addition, only regular files are
overwritten, other types of files are not.
OpenBSD 4.9 October 4, 2010 OpenBSD 4.9
