RM(1)

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.

Any attempt to remove a file whose last file name component is '.' or '..' is rejected with a diagnostic.

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

    rm -- -foo

    rm ./-foo

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 unrecoverable, consider using shred(1).

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

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

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2026 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'