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rm(1)									 rm(1)

NAME
       rm - Removes (unlinks) files or directories

SYNOPSIS
       rm [-efirR] [--] file...

STANDARDS
       Interfaces  documented on this reference page conform to industry stan‐
       dards as follows:

       rm: XCU5.0

       Refer to the standards(5) reference page	 for  more  information	 about
       industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS
       [Tru64  UNIX]  Displays	a  message after deleting each file.  Does not
       prompt before removing a file that does not have write permission  set,
       and  does  not  display	an  error message if a specified file does not
       exist. If you specify both -f and -i when invoking rm, the option  that
       is specified last on the command line takes effect.  Prompts you before
       deleting each file (interactive). When you use both -i and -r, rm  also
       prompts for removing each file, then the directory. If you specify both
       -f and -i with rm, the last one on the command line takes effect.  Per‐
       mits  recursive	removal	 of  directories and their contents (for cases
       where file is a directory).  Permits recursive removal  of  directories
       and  their  contents (for cases where file is a directory, same as -r).
       [Tru64 UNIX]  Indicates that all	 arguments  following  it  are	to  be
       treated	as file names.	This allows you to specify file names starting
       with a - (dash).

OPERANDS
       Path name of a file or directory to be removed.

DESCRIPTION
       The rm command removes the entries  for	the  specified	files  from  a
       directory.

       If  file	 is of the directory type: If you specify neither -R or -r, rm
       writes a diagnostic message to standard	error,	does  nothing  further
       with  file, and goes on to any remaining files.	If -f is not specified
       and either of the following is true, rm writes  a  prompt  to  standard
       error  and reads a line from standard input: The permissions of file do
       not permit writing and standard input is a terminal The	-i  option  is
       specified

	      If the response is affirmative, rm does nothing further with the
	      current file and goes on to  any	remaining  files.   (The  same
	      actions  are  taken  if  -f  is specified and file is not of the
	      directory type.)	For each entry contained in file,  other  than
	      (dot) or (dot dot) entries, the four steps listed here (1-3) are
	      taken with the entry as if it were a file argument.

       [Tru64 UNIX]  If an entry is the last link to a file, it is  destroyed.
       To  remove a file, you must have write permission for its parent direc‐
       tory, but need neither read nor write permission for the	 file  itself.
       If the sticky bit on the directory is set, you must be the owner of the
       file or superuser.

       If a file has no write permission and standard input is a  terminal  or
       the  -i	option	is specified, rm displays the file permission code and
       reads a line from standard input.  If that line begins with y,  or  the
       locale's	 equivalent  of	 a y, rm deletes the file.  If the response is
       anything else, rm does nothing to that file and continues with the next
       specified file.

       The  LC_MESSAGES	 variable determines the locale's equivalent of y or n
       (for yes/no queries).

       The -i option causes rm to prompt and read the standard input  even  if
       the  standard  input is not a terminal.	In the absence of -i, however,
       the mode prompting is not done when the standard input is not a	termi‐
       nal.

       If  the	environment  variable  STDS_FLAG is set to ALL, the rm command
       processes pathnames  of any  length,  however  the  outcome  is	unpre‐
       dictable if synchronization issues exist.

RESTRICTIONS
       It  is  an  error to specify . (dot) or ..  (dot dot) as the final path
       name component of file, although these entries may be removed with  the
       -r or -R options.

EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values are returned: If the -f option was not speci‐
       fied, all the named directory entries were removed; otherwise, all  the
       existing named directory entries were removed.  An error occurred.

EXAMPLES
       To delete a file, enter: rm myfile

	      If  there	 is  another  link to this file, then the file remains
	      under that name, but myfile is removed. If myfile	 is  the  only
	      link,  the  file	itself is deleted.  To delete a file silently,
	      enter: rm -f core

	      This removes core without asking any questions or displaying any
	      error  messages.	This is normally used in shell procedures.  It
	      prevents confusing messages from being displayed	when  deleting
	      files that may or may not exist.	To delete files interactively,
	      enter: rm -i mydir/*

	      After  each  file	 name  is  displayed,  enter  the  affirmative
	      response	to  remove the file; press <Return> (or anything other
	      than the affirmative response) to retain the file.  To delete  a
	      directory tree interactively, enter: rm -ir manual

	      This  recursively	 removes the contents of all subdirectories of
	      manual, then removes manual itself, asking if you want to remove
	      each file and directory.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The  following  environment  variables affect the execution of rm: Pro‐
       vides a default value for the internationalization variables  that  are
       unset  or  null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from
       the default locale is used. If any of  the  internationalization	 vari‐
       ables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the
       variables had been defined.  If set to a non-empty string value,	 over‐
       rides  the  values  of  all  the	 other internationalization variables.
       Determines the locale for the behavior of ranges, equivalence  classes,
       and  multicharacter  collating  elements	 used  in the extended regular
       expression defined for the yesexpr locale keyword  in  the  LC_MESSAGES
       category.  Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
       bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte  as  opposed
       to multibyte characters in arguments).

	      Determines  the behavior of character classes in regular expres‐
	      sions used in the extended regular espression  defined  for  the
	      yesexpr  locale keyword in the LC_MESSAGES category.  Determines
	      the locale for the format and contents  of  diagnostic  messages
	      written  to  standard error.  Determines the location of message
	      catalogues for the  processing  of  LC_MESSAGES.	 Resolves  the
	      behavior	of the command in some scenarios that cause noncompli‐
	      ance with POSIX standards. Setting this variable to ALL  enables
	      the command to overcome all instances of noncompliance.

SEE ALSO
       Commands:  ln(1), mv(1), rmdir(1)

       Functions:  rmdir(2), unlink(2), remove(3)

       Standards:  standards(5)

									 rm(1)
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