To delete a file that has hard links, you must enter rm against all the link names, including the original file name. If you try to delete a file that is hard-linked, its contents do not disappear until you remove every link to it.

To delete a file that is a symbolic link, you enter rm against the symbolic link name. This removes the link, not the file it refers to. When you delete a file that is symbolically linked, any remaining symbolic links refer to a file that no longer exists. If you know the names of the symbolic link files, you may want to delete them.

To delete a file that is an external link, run rm against the external link name. If you delete a data set that is externally linked, the remaining external link refers to a data set that no longer exists.