Removing Files on a Linux Server

An important part of file management is the removing of files that are no longer needed. Files, by their very nature, take up space, and something that is not needed should not take up space on a server, where space is money. The “rm” Linux command handles basic removal of files, but here are some additional settings you can use with “rm” to handle various types of removal tasks.

rm -l With the “-l” flag added after “rm”, the command will prompt you only when removing more than three files. You can use this as a precaution to keep from accidentally removing large amounts of data.

rm –one-file-system This instructs “rm” to remove only files that match the current file system, which is useful when removing several directories at once.

rm -r Recursive removal means that the top-level directory and the files and directories inside it will be removed together.

rm -v This displays information about the removal, rather than just returning to an empty command prompt.

rm -f To force removal without any prompting or warnings, use the “-f” flag, but please use it carefully.