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---
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layout: page
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category-page: fs
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category-title: FileSystem
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tags: directory list remove delete erase
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2018-11-09 12:53:02 +00:00
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author: Mattia Hijman
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title: rm
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2018-11-18 20:38:56 +00:00
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previous-page: pages/fs/relative.html
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---
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2018-11-15 20:09:21 +00:00
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2018-11-12 10:47:50 +00:00
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The <code>rm</code> command is used to delete and unlink directories and files.<br>
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It attempts to remove the non-directory type files specified on the command line.
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If the permissions of the file do not permit writing, the user is prompted for confirmation.<br>
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<pre>
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rm [-dfiPRrvW] file1 file2 file....
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</pre>
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<h3>Flags</h3>
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<ul>
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<li> <b>-d</b>: Attempt to remove directories as well as other types of files</li>
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<li> <b>-f</b>: Attempt to remove the files without prompting for confirmation, regardless
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of the file's permissions. If the file does not exist, do not display a diagnostic message
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or modify the exit status to reflect an error.</li>
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<li> <b>-i</b>: Request confirmation before attempting to remove each file,
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regardless of the file's permissions, or whether or not the standard input device
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is a terminal.</li>
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<li> <b>-P</b>: Overwrite regular files before deleting them. Files are overwritten
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three times, first with the byte pattern 0xff, then 0x00, and then 0xff again, before
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they are deleted.</li>
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<li> <b>-R</b>: Attempt to remove the file hierarchy rooted in each file argument.
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The -R option implies the -d option.
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If the -i option is specified, the user is prompted for confirmation before
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each directory's contents are processed (as well as before the attempt is
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made to remove the directory).
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If the user does not respond affirmatively, the file hierarchy rooted in that
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directory is skipped.</li>
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<li> <b>-r</b>: Same as -R.</li>
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<li> <b>-v</b>: Be verbose when deleting files, showing them as they are removed.</li>
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<li> <b>-W</b>: Attempt to undelete the named files.
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Currently, this option can only be used to recover files covered by whiteouts.</li>
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</ul>
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<h3>Removing links</h3>
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The rm utility removes symbolic links, not the files referenced by the links.<br>
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It is not allowed to remove the files "." or "..".<br>
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When the utility is called as unlink, only one argument, which must not be a directory,
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may be supplied. No options may be supplied in this simple mode of operation,
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which performs an unlink(2) operation on the passed argument.<br>
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The rm utility exits 0 if all of the named files or file hierarchies were removed,
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or if the -f option was specified and all of the existing files or file hierarchies were removed.
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If an error occurs, rm exits with a value 0.
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