rm Command in Linux: Safely Remove Files and Directories

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

You need 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 "rm -i" command is used as an alias for the rm command, always prompting for confirmation before removing.

The options are:

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

Examples:

Removes file1:

$ rm arquivo1

Removes the documentos directory and all of its contents:

$ rm –Rf documentos

Even if a file is deleted by the rm command, it can be recovered with some advanced techniques and time, since rm deletes the file metadata in the file system table, so the inodes may still exist on the disk, allowing recovery. To delete files in a virtually unrecoverable way, the shred command should be used.

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