Directories can be removed in two ways. The rmdir command
removes directories that are empty, while the rm -r command
recursively removes all files and subdirectories within the directory
specified, then it removes the target directory itself:
rmdir directoryname
rm -r directoryname
Be EXTREMELY careful when using recursive file removal! It is very easy
to remove files with the -r option. If you don't pay attention
to the directory that you are in, it is possible to delete ALL of your files
by accident with this command. Because of this,
the rm command has an option -i
that will cause rm to
ask you for removal confirmation for EVERY file in the directory tree.
rm should be aliased to rm -i to prevent accidental
deletion of files.
Another useful option of rm is -f. The -f option forces deletion of files that are write-protected. This can be very useful to prevent a never-ending string of ''override protection xxx for file yyy'' messages when removing files recursively. Again, use of the -f option can be very dangerous.