rm command on Linux (remove files) [Basic Guide]

The rm command in Linux is used to remove files or directories.

You must have the write permission in the directory where the file is located to remove it. Using the —R and —f options, the rm command removes directories.

In some distributions the command “rm -i” is used as the nickname of the rm command, always requiring confirmation before removing.

The options are:

• -f Forces the removal of files without asking the user.
• -r, -R Removes a directory and all of its contents.
• -i Ask before removing
• -d, –dir Remove empty directories

Examples:

Remove file 1:

$ in file1

Remove the documents directory and all of its contents:

$ rm —Rf documents

Even if a file is deleted by the rm command, it is possible to recover it with some advanced techniques and time, since rm erases the metadata of the files in the file system table, so that inodes can still exist on the disk, allowing recovery. To delete files in a virtually unrecoverable manner, the shred command must be used.