NAME

       rm - remove files or directories

SYNOPSIS

       rm [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page  documents  the GNU version of rm.  rm removes each specified file.  By
       default, it does not remove directories.

       If the -I or --interactive=once option is given, and there are more than  three  files  or
       the -r, -R, or --recursive are given, then rm prompts the user for whether to proceed with
       the entire operation.  If the response is not affirmative, the entire command is aborted.

       Otherwise, if a file is unwritable, standard input is a terminal, and the  -f  or  --force
       option  is  not  given,  or the -i or --interactive=always option is given, rm prompts the
       user for whether to remove the file.  If the response is  not  affirmative,  the  file  is
       skipped.

OPTIONS

       Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).

       -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

       -d, --dir
              remove empty directories

       -v, --verbose
              explain what is being done

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

       By  default,  rm  does  not  remove directories.  Use the --recursive (-r or -R) option to
       remove each listed directory, too, along with all of its contents.

       To remove a file whose name starts with a '-',  for  example  '-foo',  use  one  of  these
       commands:

              rm -- -foo

              rm ./-foo

       Note  that  if  you  use  rm to remove a file, it might be possible to recover some of its
       contents, given sufficient expertise and/or time.  For greater assurance that the contents
       are truly unrecoverable, consider using shred(1).

AUTHOR

       Written by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard M. Stallman, and Jim Meyering.

REPORTING BUGS

       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  ©  2023  Free  Software  Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or
       later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO  WARRANTY,
       to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

       unlink(1), unlink(2), chattr(1), shred(1)

       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/rm>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) rm invocation'