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13 .TH RM 1 "Oct 25, 2017"
14 .SH NAME
15 rm, rmdir \- remove directory entries
16 .SH SYNOPSIS
17 .LP
18 .nf
19 \fB/usr/bin/rm\fR [\fB-fiRr\fR] \fIfile\fR...
20 .fi
22 .LP
23 .nf
24 \fB/usr/bin/rmdir\fR [\fB-ps\fR] \fIdirname\fR...
25 .fi
27 .SS "ksh93"
28 .LP
29 .nf
30 \fB/usr/bin/rmdir\fR [\fB-eps\fR] \fIdirname\fR...
31 .fi
33 .SH DESCRIPTION
34 .sp
35 .LP
36 The \fBrm\fR utility removes the directory entry specified by each \fIfile\fR
37 argument. If a file has no write permission and the standard input is a
38 terminal, the full set of permissions (in octal) for the file are printed
39 followed by a question mark. This is a prompt for confirmation. If the answer
40 is affirmative, the file is deleted, otherwise the file remains.
41 .sp
42 .LP
43 If \fIfile\fR is a symbolic link, the link is removed, but the file or
44 directory to which it refers is not deleted. Users do not need write permission
45 to remove a symbolic link, provided they have write permissions in the
46 directory.
47 .sp
48 .LP
49 If multiple \fIfile\fRs are specified and removal of a \fIfile\fR fails for any
50 reason, \fBrm\fR writes a diagnostic message to standard error, do nothing more
51 to the current \fIfile\fR, and go on to any remaining \fIfile\fRs.
52 .sp
53 .LP
54 If the standard input is not a terminal, the utility operates as if the
55 \fB-f\fR option is in effect.
56 .SS "/usr/bin/rmdir"
57 .sp
58 .LP
59 The \fBrmdir\fR utility removes the directory entry specified by each
60 \fIdirname\fR operand, which must refer to an empty directory.
61 .sp
62 .LP
63 Directories are processed in the order specified. If a directory and a
64 subdirectory of that directory are specified in a single invocation of
65 \fBrmdir\fR, the subdirectory must be specified before the parent directory so
66 that the parent directory is empty when \fBrmdir\fR tries to remove it.
67 .SS "ksh93"
68 .sp
69 .LP
70 The \fBrmdir\fR built-in in \fBksh93\fR is associated with the \fB/bin\fR and
71 \fB/usr/bin\fR paths. It is invoked when \fBrmdir\fR is executed without a
72 pathname prefix and the pathname search finds a \fB/bin/rmdir\fR or
73 \fB/usr/bin/rmdir\fR executable.
74 .sp
75 .LP
76 \fBrmdir\fR deletes each given directory. The directory must be empty and
77 contain no entries other than \fB\&.\fR or \fB\&..\fR. If a directory and a
78 subdirectory of that directory are specified as operands, the subdirectory must
79 be specified before the parent, so that the parent directory is empty when
80 \fBrmdir\fR attempts to remove it.
81 .SH OPTIONS
82 .sp
83 .LP
84 The following options are supported:
85 .sp
86 .ne 2
87 .na
88 \fB\fB-r\fR\fR
89 .ad
90 .RS 6n
91 Recursively removes directories and subdirectories in the argument list. The
92 directory is emptied of files and removed. The user is normally prompted for
93 removal of any write-protected files which the directory contains. The
94 write-protected files are removed without prompting, however, if the \fB-f\fR
95 option is used, or if the standard input is not a terminal and the \fB-i\fR
96 option is not used.
97 .sp
98 Symbolic links that are encountered with this option is not traversed.
99 .sp
100 If the removal of a non-empty, write-protected directory is attempted, the
101 utility always fails (even if the \fB-f\fR option is used), resulting in an
102 error message.
103 .RE
105 .sp
106 .ne 2
107 .na
108 \fB\fB-R\fR\fR
109 .ad
110 .RS 6n
111 Same as \fB-r\fR option.
112 .RE
114 .sp
115 .ne 2
116 .na
117 \fB\fB-f\fR\fR
118 .ad
119 .RS 6n
120 Does not prompt for confirmation. Does not write diagnostic messages or modify
121 the exit status in the case of non-existent operands. Any previous occurrences
122 of the \fB-i\fR option is ignored.
123 .RE
125 .sp
126 .ne 2
127 .na
128 \fB\fB-i\fR\fR
129 .ad
130 .RS 6n
131 Prompts for confirmation. Any occurrences of the \fB-f\fR option is ignored.
132 .RE
134 .SS "/usr/bin/rmdir"
135 .sp
136 .LP
137 The following options are supported for \fB/usr/bin/rmdir\fR only:
138 .sp
139 .ne 2
140 .na
141 \fB\fB-p\fR\fR
142 .ad
143 .RS 6n
144 Allows users to remove the directory \fIdirname\fR and its parent directories
145 which become empty. A message is printed to standard error if all or part of
146 the path could not be removed.
147 .RE
149 .sp
150 .ne 2
151 .na
152 \fB\fB-s\fR\fR
153 .ad
154 .RS 6n
155 Suppresses the message printed on the standard error when \fB-p\fR is in
156 effect.
157 .RE
159 .SS "ksh93"
160 .sp
161 .LP
162 The following options are supported for the \fBrmdir\fR built-in for
163 \fBksh93\fR:
164 .sp
165 .ne 2
166 .na
167 \fB\fB-e\fR\fR
168 .ad
169 .br
170 .na
171 \fB\fB--ignore-fail-on-non-empty\fR\fR
172 .ad
173 .RS 30n
174 Ignore each non-empty directory failure.
175 .RE
177 .sp
178 .ne 2
179 .na
180 \fB\fB-p\fR\fR
181 .ad
182 .br
183 .na
184 \fB\fB--parents\fR\fR
185 .ad
186 .RS 30n
187 Remove each explicit directory argument directory that becomes empty after its
188 child directories are removed.
189 .RE
191 .sp
192 .ne 2
193 .na
194 \fB\fB-s\fR\fR
195 .ad
196 .br
197 .na
198 \fB\fB--suppress\fR\fR
199 .ad
200 .RS 30n
201 Suppress the message printed on the standard error when \fB-p\fR is in effect.
202 .RE
204 .SH OPERANDS
205 .sp
206 .LP
207 The following operands are supported:
208 .sp
209 .ne 2
210 .na
211 \fB\fIfile\fR\fR
212 .ad
213 .RS 11n
214 Specifies the pathname of a directory entry to be removed.
215 .RE
217 .sp
218 .ne 2
219 .na
220 \fB\fIdirname\fR\fR
221 .ad
222 .RS 11n
223 Specifies the pathname of an empty directory to be removed.
224 .RE
226 .SH USAGE
227 .sp
228 .LP
229 See \fBlargefile\fR(5) for the description of the behavior of \fBrm\fR and
230 \fBrmdir\fR when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31
231 bytes).
232 .SH EXAMPLES
233 .sp
234 .LP
235 The following examples are valid for the commands shown.
236 .LP
237 \fBExample 1 \fRRemoving Directories
238 .sp
239 .LP
240 The following command removes the directory entries \fBa.out\fR and \fBcore\fR:
242 .sp
243 .in +2
244 .nf
245 example% \fBrm a.out core\fR
246 .fi
247 .in -2
248 .sp
250 .LP
251 \fBExample 2 \fRRemoving a Directory without Prompting
252 .sp
253 .LP
254 The following command removes the directory \fBjunk\fR and all its contents,
255 without prompting:
257 .sp
258 .in +2
259 .nf
260 example% \fBrm -rf junk\fR
261 .fi
262 .in -2
263 .sp
265 .SS "/usr/bin/rmdir"
266 .LP
267 \fBExample 3 \fRRemoving Empty Directories
268 .sp
269 .LP
270 If a directory \fBa\fR in the current directory is empty, except that it
271 contains a directory \fBb\fR, and \fBa/b\fR is empty except that it contains a
272 directory \fBc\fR, the following command removes all three directories:
274 .sp
275 .in +2
276 .nf
277 example% \fBrmdir -p a/b/c\fR
278 .fi
279 .in -2
280 .sp
282 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
283 .sp
284 .LP
285 See \fBenviron\fR(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
286 that affect the execution of \fBrm\fR and \fBrmdir\fR: \fBLANG\fR,
287 \fBLC_ALL\fR, \fBLC_COLLATE\fR, \fBLC_CTYPE\fR, \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR, and
288 \fBNLSPATH\fR.
289 .sp
290 .LP
291 Affirmative responses are processed using the extended regular expression
292 defined for the \fByesexpr\fR keyword in the \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR category of the
293 user's locale. The locale specified in the \fBLC_COLLATE\fR category defines
294 the behavior of ranges, equivalence classes, and multi-character collating
295 elements used in the expression defined for \fByesexpr\fR. The locale specified
296 in \fBLC_CTYPE\fR determines the locale for interpretation of sequences of
297 bytes of text data a characters, the behavior of character classes used in the
298 expression defined for the \fByesexpr\fR. See \fBlocale\fR(5).
299 .SH EXIT STATUS
300 .sp
301 .LP
302 The following exit values are returned:
303 .sp
304 .ne 2
305 .na
306 \fB\fB0\fR\fR
307 .ad
308 .RS 6n
309 If the \fB-f\fR option was not specified, all the named directory entries were
310 removed; otherwise, all the existing named directory entries were removed.
311 .RE
313 .sp
314 .ne 2
315 .na
316 \fB\fB>0\fR\fR
317 .ad
318 .RS 6n
319 An error occurred.
320 .RE
322 .SS "ksh93"
323 .sp
324 .LP
325 The following exit values are returned:
326 .sp
327 .ne 2
328 .na
329 \fB\fB0\fR\fR
330 .ad
331 .RS 6n
332 Successful completion. All directories deleted successfully.
333 .RE
335 .sp
336 .ne 2
337 .na
338 \fB\fB>0\fR\fR
339 .ad
340 .RS 6n
341 An error occurred. One or more directories could not be deleted.
342 .RE
344 .SH ATTRIBUTES
345 .sp
346 .LP
347 See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
348 .SS "/usr/bin/rmdir"
349 .sp
351 .sp
352 .TS
353 box;
354 c | c
355 l | l .
356 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
357 _
358 CSI Enabled
359 .TE
361 .SS "/usr/bin/rm"
362 .sp
364 .sp
365 .TS
366 box;
367 c | c
368 l | l .
369 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
370 _
371 CSI Enabled
372 _
373 Interface Stability Committed
374 _
375 Standard See \fBstandards\fR(5).
376 .TE
378 .SS "ksh93"
379 .sp
381 .sp
382 .TS
383 box;
384 c | c
385 l | l .
386 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
387 _
388 Interface Stability See below.
389 .TE
391 .sp
392 .LP
393 The \fBksh93\fR built-in binding to \fB/bin\fR and \fB/usr/bin\fR is Volatile.
394 The built-in interfaces are Uncommitted.
395 .SH SEE ALSO
396 .sp
397 .LP
398 \fBksh93\fR(1), \fBrmdir\fR(2), \fBrmdir\fR(2), \fBunlink\fR(2),
399 \fBattributes\fR(5), \fBenviron\fR(5), \fBlargefile\fR(5), \fBstandards\fR(5)
400 .SH DIAGNOSTICS
401 .sp
402 .LP
403 All messages are generally self-explanatory.
404 .sp
405 .LP
406 It is forbidden to remove the files "\fB\&.\fR" and "\fB\&..\fR" in order to
407 avoid the consequences of inadvertently doing something like the following:
408 .sp
409 .in +2
410 .nf
411 example% \fBrm -r .*\fR
412 .fi
413 .in -2
414 .sp
416 .sp
417 .LP
418 It is forbidden to remove the file "\fB/\fR" in order to avoid the consequences
419 of inadvertently doing something like:
420 .sp
421 .in +2
422 .nf
423 example% \fBrm -rf $x/$y\fR
424 .fi
425 .in -2
426 .sp
428 .sp
429 .LP
430 or
431 .sp
432 .in +2
433 .nf
434 example% \fBrm -rf /$y\fR
435 .fi
436 .in -2
437 .sp
439 .sp
440 .LP
441 when \fB$x\fR and \fB$y\fR expand to empty strings.
442 .SH NOTES
443 .sp
444 .LP
445 A \fB\(mi\fR permits the user to mark explicitly the end of any command line
446 options, allowing \fBrm\fR to recognize file arguments that begin with a
447 \fB\(mi\fR\&. As an aid to BSD migration, \fBrm\fR accepts \fB\(mi\|\(mi\fR as
448 a synonym for \fB\(mi\fR\&. This migration aid may disappear in a future
449 release. If a \fB\(mi\|\(mi\fR and a \fB\(mi\fR both appear on the same command
450 line, the second is interpreted as a file.