xenial (1) rm.1posix.gz

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PROLOG

       This  manual  page  is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface
       may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the  interface
       may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       rm — remove directory entries

SYNOPSIS

       rm [−fiRr] file...

DESCRIPTION

       The rm utility shall remove the directory entry specified by each file argument.

       If  either  of the files dot or dot-dot are specified as the basename portion of an operand (that is, the
       final pathname component) or if an operand resolves to the root directory, rm shall  write  a  diagnostic
       message to standard error and do nothing more with such operands.

       For each file the following steps shall be taken:

        1. If the file does not exist:

            a. If the −f option is not specified, rm shall write a diagnostic message to standard error.

            b. Go on to any remaining files.

        2. If file is of type directory, the following steps shall be taken:

            a. If  neither  the −R option nor the −r option is specified, rm shall write a diagnostic message to
               standard error, do nothing more with file, and go on to any remaining files.

            b. If the −f option is not specified, and either the permissions of file do not permit  writing  and
               the  standard  input  is  a  terminal  or  the −i option is specified, rm shall write a prompt to
               standard error and read a line from the standard input. If the response is  not  affirmative,  rm
               shall do nothing more with the current file and go on to any remaining files.

            c. For  each entry contained in file, other than dot or dot-dot, the four steps listed here (1 to 4)
               shall be taken with the entry as if it were a file operand. The rm  utility  shall  not  traverse
               directories  by  following symbolic links into other parts of the hierarchy, but shall remove the
               links themselves.

            d. If the −i option is specified, rm shall write a prompt to standard error and read a line from the
               standard  input.  If  the  response is not affirmative, rm shall do nothing more with the current
               file, and go on to any remaining files.

        3. If file is not of type directory, the −f option is not specified, and either the permissions of  file
           do  not  permit  writing and the standard input is a terminal or the −i option is specified, rm shall
           write a prompt to the standard error and read a line from the standard input. If the response is  not
           affirmative, rm shall do nothing more with the current file and go on to any remaining files.

        4. If  the  current  file  is  a  directory, rm shall perform actions equivalent to the rmdir() function
           defined in the System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1‐2008 called with a pathname of  the  current  file
           used  as  the  path  argument.  If  the  current  file  is  not a directory, rm shall perform actions
           equivalent to the unlink() function defined in the System Interfaces volume  of  POSIX.1‐2008  called
           with a pathname of the current file used as the path argument.

           If  this fails for any reason, rm shall write a diagnostic message to standard error, do nothing more
           with the current file, and go on to any remaining files.

       The rm utility shall be able to descend to arbitrary depths in a file hierarchy, and shall not  fail  due
       to path length limitations (unless an operand specified by the user exceeds system limitations).

OPTIONS

       The rm utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax
       Guidelines.

       The following options shall be supported:

       −f        Do not prompt for confirmation. Do not write diagnostic messages or modify the exit  status  in
                 the case of nonexistent operands. Any previous occurrences of the −i option shall be ignored.

       −i        Prompt  for  confirmation  as  described  previously. Any previous occurrences of the −f option
                 shall be ignored.

       −R        Remove file hierarchies. See the DESCRIPTION.

       −r        Equivalent to −R.

OPERANDS

       The following operand shall be supported:

       file      A pathname of a directory entry to be removed.

STDIN

       The standard input shall be used to read an input line in response to each prompt specified in the STDOUT
       section. Otherwise, the standard input shall not be used.

INPUT FILES

       None.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of rm:

       LANG      Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the
                 Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization  Variables  for  the
                 precedence   of   internationalization  variables  used  to  determine  the  values  of  locale
                 categories.)

       LC_ALL    If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the  other  internationalization
                 variables.

       LC_COLLATE
                 Determine  the  locale  for  the  behavior  of ranges, equivalence classes, and multi-character
                 collating elements used in the extended regular  expression  defined  for  the  yesexpr  locale
                 keyword in the LC_MESSAGES category.

       LC_CTYPE  Determine  the  locale  for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters
                 (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments) and the behavior of
                 character  classes  within  regular expressions used in the extended regular expression defined
                 for the yesexpr locale keyword in the LC_MESSAGES category.

       LC_MESSAGES
                 Determine the locale used to process affirmative responses, and the locale used to  affect  the
                 format and contents of diagnostic messages and prompts written to standard error.

       NLSPATH   Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

       Default.

STDOUT

       Not used.

STDERR

       Prompts  shall be written to standard error under the conditions specified in the DESCRIPTION and OPTIONS
       sections. The prompts shall contain the file pathname, but their format  is  otherwise  unspecified.  The
       standard error also shall be used for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES

       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

       None.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values shall be returned:

        0    Each directory entry was successfully removed, unless its removal was canceled by a non-affirmative
             response to a prompt for confirmation.

       >0    An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE

       The rm utility is forbidden to remove the names dot and dot-dot in order to  avoid  the  consequences  of
       inadvertently doing something like:

           rm −r .*

       Some  implementations  do  not  permit  the removal of the last link to an executable binary file that is
       being executed; see the [EBUSY] error in the unlink() function defined in the System Interfaces volume of
       POSIX.1‐2008. Thus, the rm utility can fail to remove such files.

       The  −i  option  causes  rm  to  prompt  and  read the standard input even if the standard input is not a
       terminal, but in the absence of −i the mode prompting is not done  when  the  standard  input  is  not  a
       terminal.

EXAMPLES

        1. The following command:

               rm a.out core

           removes the directory entries: a.out and core.

        2. The following command:

               rm −Rf junk

           removes the directory junk and all its contents, without prompting.

RATIONALE

       For  absolute  clarity,  paragraphs  (2b)  and  (3) in the DESCRIPTION of rm describing the behavior when
       prompting for confirmation, should be interpreted in the following manner:

           if ((NOT f_option) AND
               ((not_writable AND input_is_terminal) OR i_option))

       The exact format of the interactive prompts is unspecified. Only the general nature of  the  contents  of
       prompts  are  specified  because  implementations  may desire more descriptive prompts than those used on
       historical implementations. Therefore, an application not using the −f option, or using  the  −i  option,
       relies  on  the  system to provide the most suitable dialog directly with the user, based on the behavior
       specified.

       The −r option is historical practice on all  known  systems.  The  synonym  −R  option  is  provided  for
       consistency  with  the  other  utilities  in  this volume of POSIX.1‐2008 that provide options requesting
       recursive descent through the file hierarchy.

       The behavior of the −f option in historical versions of  rm  is  inconsistent.  In  general,  along  with
       ``forcing''  the  unlink  without  prompting  for  permission, it always causes diagnostic messages to be
       suppressed and the exit status to be unmodified  for  nonexistent  operands  and  files  that  cannot  be
       unlinked.  In  some versions, however, the −f option suppresses usage messages and system errors as well.
       Suppressing such messages is not a service to either shell scripts or users.

       It is less clear that error messages  regarding  files  that  cannot  be  unlinked  (removed)  should  be
       suppressed.  Although  this  is  historical  practice, this volume of POSIX.1‐2008 does not permit the −f
       option to suppress such messages.

       When given the −r and −i options, historical versions of rm prompt the user  twice  for  each  directory,
       once  before removing its contents and once before actually attempting to delete the directory entry that
       names it. This allows the user to ``prune'' the file hierarchy  walk.  Historical  versions  of  rm  were
       inconsistent  in  that  some  did  not do the former prompt for directories named on the command line and
       others had obscure prompting behavior when the −i option was specified and the permissions  of  the  file
       did  not permit writing. The POSIX Shell and Utilities rm differs little from historic practice, but does
       require that prompts be consistent. Historical versions of rm were also inconsistent in that prompts were
       done  to  both  standard  output and standard error. This volume of POSIX.1‐2008 requires that prompts be
       done to standard error, for consistency with cp and mv, and to allow historical  extensions  to  rm  that
       provide an option to list deleted files on standard output.

       The rm utility is required to descend to arbitrary depths so that any file hierarchy may be deleted. This
       means, for example, that the rm utility cannot run out of file descriptors during its descent  (that  is,
       if  the  number  of file descriptors is limited, rm cannot be implemented in the historical fashion where
       one file descriptor is used per directory level). Also, rm is not  permitted  to  fail  because  of  path
       length restrictions, unless an operand specified by the user is longer than {PATH_MAX}.

       The  rm  utility  removes symbolic links themselves, not the files they refer to, as a consequence of the
       dependence on the unlink() functionality, per the DESCRIPTION. When removing hierarchies with −r  or  −R,
       the prohibition on following symbolic links has to be made explicit.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       rmdir

       The  Base  Definitions  volume  of  POSIX.1‐2008, Chapter 8, Environment Variables, Section 12.2, Utility
       Syntax Guidelines

       The System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1‐2008, remove(), rmdir(), unlink()

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition,
       Standard  for  Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,  Inc
       and  The  Open Group.  (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the event
       of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard,  the  original
       IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
       http://www.unix.org/online.html .

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