| Files that are deleted from the command
line on a UNIX system are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
However, if you are using the File Manager in CDE, you have the ability
to take a deleted file in the trash can and drag it back to a folder,
thus "undeleting" it. CDE File manager will be covered
later. The rm
command is a versatile one that can be used to remove (delete) files
or directories from the UNIX file system.
Removing Files
The rm command
can remove a single file or multiple files. You can remove several
files at once by specifying their names after the rm
command or you can use the
asterisk (*) and question mark (?) metacharacters (wildcards).
Files that are deleted on a UNIX system
are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered unless
you are using the CDE graphical interface. The rm
command can be used with the -i (interactive) option which prompts the
user before removing files. Use the rm
-i command as a precaution to
avoid accidentally deleting files.
| Command Format: |
| rm [-i]
filename(s) |
In the first example in Figure ,
the cd
command is used to change to the letters subdirectory under your home
directory which you can see by the results of the pwd
command. The ls
command lists the files currently in the letters directory. The touch
command is used to create an empty file named projection which you can
see in the next listing. The rm
command is then used to delete
the research and project2 files and the ls
command shows that they were removed. The second example uses the -i
or interactive option with rm command
to remove the projection file created earlier with the touch
command.
Removing Directories
The rm -r
(recursive) command is used to remove directories. It will remove the
directory being targeted including all subdirectories and files in it.
When the rm
command is used with the -r option, it can remove a single
directory (empty or not) or an entire section of the directory tree.
Figure
shows examples of removing files and directories using the rm
command.
| Command Format: |
| rm -r [i]
directory_name(s) |
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Interactive
Media Activity
(Flash,
96 kB) |
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Removing
Directories with the rm
Command
In this media activity, you are logged in as user2 and your current working directory is: /home/user2/dir4. Refer to the Class File Tree Structure by clicking the 'tree' button located on the Menu Bar and type the commands that would accomplish the requested objectives.
Note: Be sure to press enter after each one. Click on step 1 to begin.
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Lab
Activity
(Adobe Acrobat
Reader, 47 kB) |
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Basic
Command Line File Management
In this lab,
you will work with file management commands from the command
line. The guidelines for file and directory naming, which
are known as naming conventions, will be reviewed. You will
create a simple directory structure and then create some
files in those directories. You will practice creating and
removing both files and directories. |
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