xref: /freebsd/bin/rmdir/rmdir.1 (revision e9ac41698b2f322d55ccf9da50a3596edb2c1800)
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32.Dd March 15, 2013
33.Dt RMDIR 1
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm rmdir
37.Nd remove directories
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm
40.Op Fl pv
41.Ar directory ...
42.Sh DESCRIPTION
43The
44.Nm
45utility removes the directory entry specified by
46each
47.Ar directory
48argument, provided it is empty.
49.Pp
50Arguments are processed in the order given.
51In order to remove both a parent directory and a subdirectory
52of that parent, the subdirectory
53must be specified first so the parent directory
54is empty when
55.Nm
56tries to remove it.
57.Pp
58The following option is available:
59.Bl -tag -width indent
60.It Fl p
61Each
62.Ar directory
63argument is treated as a pathname of which all
64components will be removed, if they are empty,
65starting with the last most component.
66(See
67.Xr rm 1
68for fully non-discriminant recursive removal.)
69.It Fl v
70Be verbose, listing each directory as it is removed.
71.El
72.Sh EXIT STATUS
73The
74.Nm
75utility exits with one of the following values:
76.Bl -tag -width indent
77.It Er 0
78Each
79.Ar directory
80referred to an empty directory and was removed successfully.
81.It Er 1
82An error occurred while attempting to remove one or more directories.
83.It Er 2
84Invalid arguments.
85.El
86.Sh EXAMPLES
87Remove the directory
88.Pa foobar ,
89if it is empty:
90.Pp
91.Dl $ rmdir foobar
92.Pp
93Remove all directories up to and including
94.Pa cow ,
95stopping at the first non-empty directory (if any):
96.Pp
97.Dl $ rmdir -p cow/horse/monkey
98.Sh SEE ALSO
99.Xr rm 1
100.Xr rmdir 2
101.Sh STANDARDS
102The
103.Nm
104utility is expected to be
105.St -p1003.2
106compatible.
107.Sh HISTORY
108A
109.Nm
110command appeared in
111.At v1 .
112