# rm

_Peios / Using Peios / Peiosutils / Files and directories_

> Remove files and directories — including how rm decides a file is write-protected and worth prompting about.

`rm` removes files. With `-r`, it removes directories and everything inside them.

```
rm [options] file...
```

```
$ rm draft.txt old-notes.txt
$ rm -r build/
```

Removal is not reversible — once `rm` removes a file, its directory entry is gone. `rm` has a few safety behaviours, below, but the basic rule stands: think before you confirm.

## Removing directories

`rm` will not remove a directory unless you say so:

| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
| `-r`, `-R`, `--recursive` | Remove directories and all of their contents, recursively. |
| `-d`, `--dir` | Remove a directory, but only if it is already empty. |

## The write-protected prompt

By default — when you have not passed `-f` and `rm` is running interactively — `rm` prompts before removing a file you cannot write to:

```
$ rm policy.db
rm: remove write-protected regular file 'policy.db'?
```

The point of that prompt is to catch mistakes: a file you cannot write is one you most likely did not mean to delete.

**"Write-protected" here means a real access check.** `rm` decides it by asking the kernel whether your token may write the file — a live check against the file's [security descriptor](/peios/security-fundamentals/security-descriptors/overview.md). It is not read off any decorative metadata on the inode; it is the same authority question that any write to the file would face. So the prompt is honest: if `rm` says a file is write-protected, it is a file the access model would genuinely stop you writing.

(The check is about *write* access to the file's contents. Whether you may actually *remove* the file is a separate question, decided by its own access right — so you can be prompted about a write-protected file and still be allowed to delete it. The prompt is a courtesy check, not the authorisation.)

## Controlling the prompts

| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
| `-f`, `--force` | Never prompt. Also ignore files that do not exist instead of reporting them. |
| `-i` | Prompt before *every* removal. |
| `-I` | Prompt just *once* before removing more than three files or before a recursive removal. Less intrusive than `-i`, but still a check against a slip. |
| `--interactive[=WHEN]` | Set the prompting explicitly: `never`, `once`, or `always`. |

## The root failsafe

`rm` refuses to recursively remove `/` — the root of the file system — because doing so by accident would be catastrophic.

| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
| `--preserve-root` | Refuse to recurse on `/`. This is the default; you do not need to ask for it. |
| `--no-preserve-root` | Disable the failsafe. Required, in full and unabbreviated, if you genuinely intend a recursive operation on `/`. |

## Other options

| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
| `-v`, `--verbose` | Print each file as it is removed. |
| `--progress` | Show a progress bar. |

## `rm` and `shred`

`rm` unlinks a file — it removes the name, and the space becomes free. The file's *data* may still be physically present on the device until something else overwrites it. When you need the contents to be genuinely unrecoverable, use [`shred`](/peios/using-peios/peiosutils/files-and-directories/shred.md), which overwrites the data before removing the file.

## Exit status

| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `0` | Every requested removal succeeded (or, with `-f`, the file did not exist). |
| `1` | A file could not be removed. |

Related content:

- [rmdir](/peios/using-peios/peiosutils/files-and-directories/rmdir.md)
- [shred](/peios/using-peios/peiosutils/files-and-directories/shred.md)
- [Files and directories](/peios/using-peios/peiosutils/files-and-directories/overview.md)