{"id":110112,"date":"2022-07-20T10:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T04:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/data-flair.training\/blogs\/?p=110112"},"modified":"2022-07-20T10:00:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T04:30:40","slug":"rm-command-in-linux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/data-flair.training\/blogs\/rm-command-in-linux\/","title":{"rendered":"Rm Command in Linux"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this article, you will learn all there is to the rm command in Linux. We will be going through various topics like what rm is, why it is used, the syntax of the rm command, and the different options used along with it.<\/p>\n

In the end, we will also be looking at some practical commands in the terminal that will help you manage files in Linux using the terminal. So buckle up, and read right till the end!<\/p>\n

What is the rm command?<\/h3>\n

Rm stands for remove. The rm command is a command-line-based utility in Linux-based operating systems that helps in removing files and directories from your Linux filesystem from the terminal itself.<\/p>\n

By now we all know that there are 2 ways to do almost anything in Linux, one is the GUI and the other is the terminal. The Terminal is all about efficiency and productivity rather than the GIU where you have to click many buttons and navigate through different items. However, in the terminal, there are no extra Clicks on nicks!<\/p>\n

We also know that there are many such commands that help in file management, like pwd, cd, ls, mkdir, cp, mv, and rmdir. Rm is one such command used for managing the filesystem, to be more specific, deleting files, directories, symbolic links, and many more from the system.<\/p>\n

By default, the rm command is not capable of removing directories, indeed we have a couple of options that we can use with the rm command to specify what it will do, which we will discuss later. The rm command runs silently and you must be very careful of the files you delete because once deleted, you cannot recover them back.<\/p>\n

The only disadvantage of the rm command over the GUI is that it does not have a recycle bin like the GUI. Therefore the files you delete using the rm command are gone forever, so double-check the file name before you delete it.<\/p>\n

How does the rm command work?<\/h3>\n

We might think that the rm command follows a really simple process of removing files, well, maybe, but let us get a better understanding of what happens behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

The removal process of the rm command unlinks a file (that you specified to remove) in a file system from its connected or linked data. It then marks that space on the storage device as \u201cusable\u201d by future writes.<\/p>\n

In simpler words, when you delete a file, the data in the files is not changed at all, except it is just no longer associated with a file name. The data of the file is not removed, but after unlinking it using the rm command, it becomes inaccessible.<\/p>\n

History of Linux rm command<\/h3>\n

In the initial stages, the rm command was meant to delete only empty directories. In fact, for old time’s sake, this feature is still available with the usage of the option \u201cd\u201d.<\/p>\n

The rm utility that was bundled in the GNU Coreutils was written, designed, and developed by Paul Rubin, David MacKenzie, Richard Stallman, and Jim Meyering. They also included the option \u201c-d\u201d to provide the exact same functionality of the \u2018rmdir\u2019 command.<\/p>\n

The rm command is not available in Linux-based distributions but is also available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as a part of the UnxUtils . Even the IBM i operating system has been ported with the rm command.<\/p>\n

Syntax of Linux rm command<\/h3>\n

Now that we are finished up with the theory part, let us touch on the practical part. Let us start by looking at the syntax of the rm command:<\/p>\n

rm <options> <file name><\/p>\n

Options used with the rm command<\/h3>\n

In the syntax, there is a field for the options, where we can choose different options to specify what and how the rm command should function. Let us go through the options that are used with the rm command:<\/p>\n

1. -f<\/strong><\/p>\n

This option ignores nonexistent files and does not prompt while removing the file. You can also write this option as \u201c–force\u201d<\/p>\n

2. -i<\/strong><\/p>\n

This option prompts you before the removal of every file. It basically acts as you confirming to really delete that file.<\/p>\n

3. -I<\/strong><\/p>\n

This option prompts once before removing more than three files, or when removing files recursively.<\/p>\n

4. –interactive = <when><\/strong><\/p>\n

This option prompts according to the <when> you specify. <when> can take 2 values:<\/p>\n