rm --help
bash
Usage: rm [OPTION]... [FILE]...
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).man rm
bash
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 affirma‐
tive, 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 af‐
firmative, 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 re‐
cursively; 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 argu‐
ment
--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) op‐
tion 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).