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
              do not remove '/' (default)

       -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.

AUTHOR

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

REPORTING BUGS

       Report rm bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
       GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
       Report rm translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+:  GNU  GPL  version  3  or
       later <http://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)

       The full documentation for rm is maintained as a Texinfo  manual.   If  the  info  and  rm
       programs are properly installed at your site, the command

              info coreutils 'rm invocation'

       should give you access to the complete manual.