The rm command in linux USES elaboration

You learned about the mkdir command to create files and directories, and today you'll learn about the rm command to delete files and directories from linux. rm is a common command that deletes one or more files or directories in a directory. It can also delete a directory and all the files and subdirectories under it. For linked files, only the link is removed and the original file remains unchanged.

rm is a dangerous command, so be careful when using it, especially for beginners, or the whole system will be destroyed by this command (e.g., execute rm * -rf under/(root)). So, before we execute rm, we'd better confirm which directory 1 is in and what we want to delete, keeping a high level of clarity.

1. Command format:
rm [options] file...

2. Command functions:
Delete one or more files or directories in a directory. rm will not delete a directory if the -r option is not used. If you use rm to delete a file, you can usually still restore the file to its original state.

3. Command parameters:
-f, --force ignores nonexistent files and never gives a hint.
-i, --interactive for interactive deletion
-r, -R, --recursive instructs rm to recursively delete all directories and subdirectories listed in the parameter.
-v, --verbose shows the steps in detail
--help displays this help and exits
--version outputs version information and exits

4. Command example:

Example 1: delete file file, the system will first ask whether to delete.
Command:
rm filename
Output:

[root@localhost test1]# ll

 A total of  4

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 56 10-26 14:31 log.log

root@localhost test1]# rm log.log 

rm : whether to delete  1 A file   " log.log " ? y

root@localhost test1]# ll

 A total of  0[root@localhost test1]#

Description:
After entering the rm log.log command, the system will ask whether to delete. After entering y, the file will be deleted, and if not, the data n will be deleted.

Example 2: forced deletion of file, no longer prompted.
Command:
rm -f log1.log
Output:

[root@localhost test1]# ll

 A total of  4

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23 10-26 14:40 log1.log

[root@localhost test1]# rm -f log1.log 

[root@localhost test1]# ll

 A total of  0[root@localhost test1]#

Example 3: delete any.log file; Ask for confirmation 1 by 1 before deleting
Command:
rm -i *.log
Output:

[root@localhost test1]# ll

 A total of  8

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11 10-26 14:45 log1.log

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 24 10-26 14:45 log2.log

[root@localhost test1]# rm -i *.log

rm : whether to delete  1 A file   " log1.log " ? y

rm : whether to delete  1 A file   " log2.log " ? y

[root@localhost test1]# ll

 A total of  0[root@localhost test1]#

Example 4: delete the test1 subdirectory and all files in the subdirectory
Command:
rm -r test1
Output:

[root@localhost test]# ll

 A total of  24drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 10-25 18:07 scf

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 10-26 14:51 test1

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 10-25 17:44 test2

drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:46 test3

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test4

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test5

[root@localhost test]# rm -r test1

rm : whether to enter the directory   " test1 " ? y

rm : whether to delete  1 A file   " test1/log3.log " ? y

rm : whether to delete   directory   " test1 " ? y

[root@localhost test]# ll

 A total of  20drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 10-25 18:07 scf

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 10-25 17:44 test2

drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:46 test3

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test4

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test5

[root@localhost test]#

Example 5: the rm-rf test2 command deletes the test2 subdirectory and all files in the subdirectory without 11 validation
Command:
rm -rf test2
Output:

[root@localhost test]# rm -rf test2

[root@localhost test]# ll

 A total of  16drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 10-25 18:07 scf

drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:46 test3

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test4

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test5

[root@localhost test]#

Example 6: delete files that start with -f
Command:
rm -- -f
Output:

[root@localhost test]# touch -- -f

[root@localhost test]# ls -- -f

-f[root@localhost test]# rm -- -f

rm : whether to delete  1 Like the empty file   " -f " ? y

[root@localhost test]# ls -- -f

ls: -f:  There is no file or directory 

[root@localhost test]#

 You can also use the following steps :

[root@localhost test]# touch ./-f

[root@localhost test]# ls ./-f

./-f[root@localhost test]# rm ./-f

rm : whether to delete  1 Like the empty file   " ./-f " ? y

[root@localhost test]#

Example 7: custom recycle bin functionality
Command:
myrm(){ D=/tmp/$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S); mkdir -p $D; mv "$@" $D && echo "moved to $D ok"; }
Output:

[root@localhost test]# myrm(){ D=/tmp/$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S); mkdir -p $D;  mv "$@" $D && echo "moved to $D ok"; }

[root@localhost test]# alias rm='myrm'

[root@localhost test]# touch 1.log 2.log 3.log

[root@localhost test]# ll

 A total of  16

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 10-26 15:08 1.log

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 10-26 15:08 2.log

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    0 10-26 15:08 3.log

drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 10-25 18:07 scf

drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:46 test3

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test4

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test5

[root@localhost test]# rm [123].log

moved to /tmp/20121026150901 ok

[root@localhost test]# ll

 A total of  16drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 10-25 18:07 scf

drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:46 test3

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test4

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 10-25 17:56 test5

[root@localhost test]# ls /tmp/20121026150901/

1.log  2.log  3.log

[root@localhost test]#

Description:
The above procedure mimics the effect of a recycle bin, where you delete files by placing them in a temporary directory so that they can be recovered if needed.