`rm': Remove files or directories
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`rm' removes each given FILE. By default, it does not remove
directories. Synopsis:
rm [OPTION]... [FILE]...
If a file is unwritable, standard input is a terminal, and the `-f'
or `--force' option is not given, or the `-i' or `--interactive' option
_is_ given, `rm' prompts the user for whether to remove the file. If
the response does not begin with `y' or `Y', the file is skipped.
The program accepts the following options. Also see Note:Common
options.
`-d'
`--directory'
Attempt to remove directories with `unlink' instead of `rmdir', and
don't require a directory to be empty before trying to unlink it.
This works only if you have appropriate privileges and if your
operating system supports `unlink' for directories. Because
unlinking a directory causes any files in the deleted directory to
become unreferenced, it is wise to `fsck' the filesystem after
doing this. Note that this option will call `unlink' on the target
with no additional checks, so may be useful for non-directories in
cases where `stat' fails for the target.
`-f'
`--force'
Ignore nonexistent files and never prompt the user. Ignore any
previous `--interactive' (`-i') option.
`-i'
`--interactive'
Prompt whether to remove each file. If the response does not begin
with `y' or `Y', the file is skipped. Ignore any previous
`--force' (`-f') option.
`-r'
`-R'
`--recursive'
Remove the contents of directories recursively.
`-v'
`--verbose'
Print the name of each file before removing it.
One common question is how to remove files whose names begin with a
`-'. GNU `rm', like every program that uses the `getopt' function to
parse its arguments, lets you use the `--' option to indicate that all
following arguments are non-options. To remove a file called `-f' in
the current directory, you could type either:
rm -- -f
or:
rm ./-f
The Unix `rm' program's use of a single `-' for this purpose
predates the development of the getopt standard syntax.