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rmThis tutorial demonstrates the use of command to delete files and directories in Linux .

rmcommand is a Linux command used to delete objects. These objects can be files, directories, symbolic links, pipes, and sockets.

rmThe command does not move the deleted objects to Trash. It permanently deletes the objects and there is no way to recover deleted objects unless you have a backup.

rmThe command uses the following syntax.

rm [options] [file]

The following figure demonstrates the use of rmthe command to delete a file. We are currently in foothe directory and we use lsthe command to list the contents of the current directory.

fooThe directory has two files, file1.txtand file2.txt. To remove file1.txt, we use rmthe command and pass file1.txtin the name of as an argument.

To confirm that the files were deleted, we use lsthe command to list foothe contents of the directory and we see only file2.txt; nothing file1.txt.

We have permanently deleted it file1.txt.

Here, we have demonstrated the use of rmcommand to delete multiple files. Use lscommand to list foothe files in directory.

fooThe directory contains three files; file.txt, , file1.txtand file2.txt. To delete file1.txtand file2.txt, we execute rmthe command and pass the file name as an argument, as shown in the following figure.

We executed lsthe command to check foothe contents of the directory and found that file1.txtand file2.txthad been deleted.

We use the -i-p command with -d option rmto delete files interactively. It tells rmthe -p command to ask before deleting files.

If there are multiple files, rmthe command will ask about each file before deleting it. Using -Iwill ask once for every three files it deletes.

In the image below, we are in foothe directory. We use lsthe command to list the files in the current directory.

fooThe folder has four files; file.txt, file1.txt, file2.txtand file3.txt. To delete file1.txtand interactively file2.txt, we -iexecute rmthe command with the -p option.

We have also included the verbose -voption. The verbose option shows you rmwhat the command does to your terminal.

The following image shows rmthat the command prompts for confirmation before deleting a file; we used it with the -delete -ioption rm. After deleting the file, a message is displayed stating that the file has been deleted due to the verbose option.

Use the -r-d recursive command with the -p option rmto remove a directory that has subdirectories within it. -rThe -d recursive option tells rmthe -d recursive command to recursively remove the directory and its contents.

In the following image, we use the command with the -Rand -loptions lsto list foothe contents of the directory.

-RThe -d option is used to recursively list subdirectories and their contents, while -lthe -e option tells lsthe -d command to list the contents in a long listing format. We foosee a testdirectory called -d in the -d directory.

To delete foothe directory and all the subdirectories within it, we use the -d option with -rthe -p option rmto recursively delete a directory and its contents. We have also used -vthe -d option in the image to show rmwhat the -d command does from the terminal.

Here, we have demonstrated deleting all the files and folders in the current directory. We are in foothe directory and we use lsthe command with the -land -Roptions to list the contents of the current directory.

-lThe -d option tells lsthe command to display the output to standard output in a long listing format and -Rthe -d option tells lsthe -d command to recursively list the contents of subdirectories. The standard output shows that foothe folder has a testsubdirectory called .

To delete all the files in the current directory, we use the -r command with the wildcard character -r *. rmBelow we have used the -r command with -vthe -r and -r -roptions along with wildcard characters .*rm

-vThe -d option tells rmthe command to show what it is doing, so once a file is deleted, messages will be displayed on the terminal. -rThe -d option tells rmthe command to recursively delete subdirectories and their files.

In this case, rmthe command deletes the subdirectory testand the two files. The wildcard *means everything.

This context tells rmthe command to delete everything in the current directory.

In Unix-like operating systems, the root directory is the directory of all directories and files on the operating system. A forward slash /indicates the root directory.

Removing the root directory using rmthe command means removing all directories and files remaining on the system.

We run the command below rmto remove the root directory in Linux using command.

rm -v -r --no-preserve-root /

-vOptions are used to be detailed. -vOptions tell rmthe command to display rmcommands. -rOptions tell rmthe command to recursively remove directories and their contents.

This article is reproduced from: DelftStack