RMDIR(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual RMDIR(1) NAME rmdir, rm - remove (unlink) directories or files SYNOPSIS rmdir dir ... rm [ -f ] [ -r ] [ -i ] [ - ] file ... DESCRIPTION Rmdir removes entries for the named directories, which must be empty. Rm removes the entries for one or more files from a direc- tory. If an entry was the last link to the file, the file is destroyed. Removal of a file requires write permission in its directory, but neither read nor write permission on the file itself. If a file has no write permission and the standard input is a terminal, its permissions are printed and a line is read from the standard input. If that line begins with `y' the file is deleted, otherwise the file remains. No questions are asked and no errors are reported when the -f (force) option is given. If a designated file is a directory, an error comment is printed unless the optional argument -r has been used. In that case, rm recursively deletes the entire contents of the specified directory, and the directory itself. If the -i (interactive) option is in effect, rm asks whether to delete each file, and, under -r, whether to examine each directory. The null option - indicates that all the arguments following it are to be treated as file names. This allows the specif- ication of file names starting with a minus. SEE ALSO rm(1), unlink(2), rmdir(2) Printed 11/26/99 April 29, 1985 1