NAME

rmdir — remove directories

SYNOPSIS

rmdir

[ -pv] 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 following option is available:

-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.)

-v

Be verbose, listing each directory as it is removed.

EXIT STATUS

The rmdir utility exits with one of the following values:

0

Each directory entry specified by a directory operand 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

rm(1)

STANDARDS

The rmdir utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) compatible.

HISTORY

A rmdir command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.