{"id":3533,"date":"2021-11-03T05:54:57","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T05:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ownwebservers.com\/kb\/?p=3533"},"modified":"2021-11-03T05:54:57","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T05:54:57","slug":"how-to-remove-files-in-linux-terminal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ownwebservers.com\/kb\/how-to-remove-files-in-linux-terminal\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Remove Files in Linux Terminal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this tutorial you will understand, how to use the\u00a0rm<\/strong>,\u00a0unlink<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0rmdir<\/strong> commands to delete files in Linux.<\/p>\n

How to Remove Files<\/h2>\n

You can use\u00a0rm<\/strong>\u00a0(remove) or\u00a0unlink<\/strong>\u00a0command to remove or delete a file from the Linux command line.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0rm<\/strong>\u00a0command allows you to remove multiple files at once. With\u00a0unlink<\/strong>\u00a0command, you can delete only a single file.<\/p>\n

While removing files or directories you should be extra careful, as if the file is deleted, you won\u2019t be able to recover it easily.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Use the\u00a0rm<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0unlink<\/strong>\u00a0command to delete a single file followed by the file name:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    unlink \/home\/admin\/directoryname myfile<\/p>\n

    rm \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/myfile<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    You will be notified for confirmation if the file is write-protected, as shown below. Type\u00a0y<\/strong>\u00a0and hit\u00a0Enter<\/strong>\u00a0key to remove the file, or else, it will be deleted without prompting if the file is not write-protected.<\/p>\n

    Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
    \n

    rm: remove write-protected regular empty file \u2018file\u2019?<\/p>\n

     <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \n
    • Use the\u00a0rm<\/strong>\u00a0command to delete multiple files at once followed by the file names separated with space:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      rm \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/myfile1<\/p>\n

      rm \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/myfile2<\/p>\n

      rm \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/myfile3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      OR<\/strong><\/p>\n

      cd \/home\/admin\/directoryname<\/p>\n

      rm myfile1 myfile2 myfile3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      OR<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
      \n

      rm \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/myfile*<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      To match multiple files, you can use an asterisk\u00a0(*)<\/strong>\u00a0and regular expansions. Execute the following command to remove all\u00a0.pdf<\/strong>\u00a0files placed in the current directory:<\/p>\n

      \n
      \n

      rm \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/*.pdf<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      Run the\u00a0ls<\/strong>\u00a0command to list the files if you are using regular expansions so that you can see what files will be deleted before running the\u00a0rm<\/strong>\u00a0command.<\/p>\n

        \n
      • Run the\u00a0rm<\/strong>\u00a0command with the\u00a0-i<\/strong>\u00a0option to verify each file before deleting it:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
        \n

        rm -i \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/myfile(s)<\/p>\n

         <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

          \n
        • You can run the\u00a0-f<\/strong>\u00a0(force) option with\u00a0rm<\/strong>\u00a0command to remove the files without prompting even if the files are write-protected:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          \n
          \n

          rm -f \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/myfile(s)<\/p>\n

           <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

            \n
          • You can also combine rm options. You can run the following command to delete all .txt files in the present directory without a prompt in verbose mode.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
            \n
            \n

            rm -fv \/home\/admin\/directoryname\/*.txt<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            In this tutorial you will understand, how to use the\u00a0rm,\u00a0unlink\u00a0and\u00a0rmdir commands to delete files in Linux. How to Remove Files You can use\u00a0rm\u00a0(remove) or\u00a0unlink\u00a0command to remove or delete a file from the Linux command line. The\u00a0rm\u00a0command allows you to remove multiple files at once. With\u00a0unlink\u00a0command, you can delete only a single file. While removing files […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Remove Files in Linux Terminal? - OWS KB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ownwebservers.com\/kb\/how-to-remove-files-in-linux-terminal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Remove Files in Linux Terminal? - OWS KB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this tutorial you will understand, how to use the\u00a0rm,\u00a0unlink\u00a0and\u00a0rmdir commands to delete files in Linux. How to Remove Files You can use\u00a0rm\u00a0(remove) or\u00a0unlink\u00a0command to remove or delete a file from the Linux command line. The\u00a0rm\u00a0command allows you to remove multiple files at once. With\u00a0unlink\u00a0command, you can delete only a single file. 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