Rm (Unix)

rm (short for remove) is a Unix command used to delete files from a filesystem. It is famously known for being very destructive; if uncautiously invoked, it may delete many files at once without asking for confirmation.

Common options that rm accepts include:

-r, which processes subdirectories recursively

-i, which asks for every deletion to be confirmed

-f, which ignores non-existent files and overrides any confirmation prompts

rm is often aliased to rm -i so as to avoid accidental deletion of files. If a user still wishes to delete a large number of files without confirmation, they can manually cancel out the -i argument by adding the -f option.

rm -rf (variously, rm -rf / , rm -rf * , and others) is frequently used in jokes and anecdotes about Unix disasters. This variant of the command, if run by an administrator, would cause the contents of every disk on the computer to be deleted.