4.3BSD-UWisc/man/cat1/rmdir.1
RMDIR(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual RMDIR(1)
NAME
rmdir, rm - remove (unlink) directories or files
SYNOPSIS
rmdir dir ...
rm [ -f ] [ -r ] [ -i ] [ - ] file ...
DESCRIPTION
_R_m_d_i_r removes entries for the named directories, which must
be empty.
_R_m removes the entries for one or more files from a direc-
tory. If an entry was the last link to the file, the file
is destroyed. Removal of a file requires write permission
in its directory, but neither read nor write permission on
the file itself.
If a file has no write permission and the standard input is
a terminal, its permissions are printed and a line is read
from the standard input. If that line begins with `y' the
file is deleted, otherwise the file remains. No questions
are asked and no errors are reported when the -f (force)
option is given.
If a designated file is a directory, an error comment is
printed unless the optional argument -r has been used. In
that case, _r_m recursively deletes the entire contents of the
specified directory, and the directory itself.
If the -i (interactive) option is in effect, _r_m asks whether
to delete each file, and, under -r, whether to examine each
directory.
The null option - indicates that all the arguments following
it are to be treated as file names. This allows the specif-
ication of file names starting with a minus.
SEE ALSO
rm(1), unlink(2), rmdir(2)
Printed 12/27/86 April 29, 1985 1