rmdir — Remove a directory
Format
rmdir [–p] directory …
Description
rmdir removes each requested directory. Each directory must be empty for rmdir to be successful.
Options
- –p
- Removes all intermediate components. For example:
is equivalent to:rmdir -p abc/def/ghi
rmdir abc/def/ghi rmdir abc/def rmdir abc
Localization
rmdir uses
the following localization environment variables:
- LANG
- LC_ALL
- LC_CTYPE
- LC_MESSAGES
- NLSPATH
See Localization for more information.
Exit values
- 0
- Successful completion
- 1
- Failure to remove the directory. For example, the object is not a directory, the directory still contains files or subdirectories, or the user is not authorized.
- 2
- Failure because either the command-line option was incorrect or a directory name was not specified.
Messages
Possible error messages include:
- Nonempty directory
- Files or other directories are found under the directory to be removed. Use rm –r to remove the directory.
- No such directory
- The requested directory does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible.
Portability
POSIX.2, X/Open Portability Guide, UNIX systems.
Related information
mkdir, rm