linux rm command – remove files or directories
The linux rm command can remove each specified file. By default, the rm command cannot remove directories. if you need to remove directories, you need to use parameter.
Syntax
rm [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Options
-
- -f, –force
ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt - -i
prompt before every removal - -I
prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing recursively; less intrusive than -i, while still giving protection against most mistakes - –interactive[=WHEN]
prompt according to WHEN: never, once (-I), or always (-i); without WHEN, prompt always - –one-file-system
when removing a hierarchy recursively, skip any directory that is on a file system different from that of the corresponding command line argument - –no-preserve-root
do not treat ‘/’ specially - –preserve-root[=all]
do not remove ‘/’ (default); with ‘all’, reject any command line argument on a separate device from its parent - -r, -R, –recursive
remove directories and their contents recursively
- -f, –force
-
- -d, –dir
remove empty directories
- -d, –dir
Examples
Remove specified files
In the following example, we remove the file named test.log.
➜ rm test.log
Using regular, remove every matching file
In the following example, we remove each file that starts with the string “test”.
➜ rm test*
Remove directory
In the following example we remove the empty directory. If the directory is not empty, an error will be reported “rm: cannot remove ‘dir’: Directory not empty”
➜ rm -d dir
In the following example, we will remove a non-empty directory. Of course, you can also remove empty directories.
➜ rm -r dir
Remove files using interactive mode
In the following example, we are prompted to remove files.
➜ rm -i w-test.log
Remove files using force mode
In the following example, we use force to remove a file, even if the file does not exist, no error is reported.
➜ rm -f w.log