NAME
rmdir – remove directories
SYNOPSIS
rmdir [-p] directory ...
DESCRIPTION
The rmdir utility removes the directory entry specified by each directory argument, provided it is empty.
Arguments are processed in the order given. In order to remove both a parent directory and a subdirectory of that parent, the subdirectory must be specified first so the parent directory is empty when rmdir tries to remove it.
The options are as follows:
- -p
-
Each directory argument is treated as a pathname of which all components will be removed, if they are empty, starting with the last most component. (See rm(1) for fully non-discriminant recursive removal.)
EXIT STATUS
The rmdir utility exits with one of the following values:
- 0
-
Each directory argument referred to an empty directory and was removed successfully.
- 0
-
An error occurred.
EXAMPLES
Remove the directory foobar, if it is empty:
$ rmdir foobar
Remove all directories up to and including cow, stopping at the first non-empty directory (if any):
$ rmdir -p cow/horse/monkey
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The rmdir utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.
HISTORY
A rmdir command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.