NAME

rmdir — remove directory

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Removes directoryies, and, with -p, their parents.

OPTIONS

-p, --parents

Remove parents of each directory, up to the first failure.

-v, --verbose

Write which directories were removed to the standard output stream.

-e, --ignore-fail-on-non-empty

Don't error if removal failed with ENOTEMPTY.

EXIT STATUS

1 if a directory (or its parent with -p) couldn't be removed, except if -e and because ENOTEMPTY.

SEE ALSO

mkdir(1), rm(1), rmdir(2)

STANDARDS

Conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2024 (“POSIX.1”). -v and --ignore-fail-on-non-empty are extensions, also present on the GNU system.

Short -e is an extension, compatible with the KornShell.

-v is also available in FreeBSD 6.0.

HISTORY

Appears in the first edition of the UNIX Programmer's Manual as rmdir(I):

Version 7 AT&T UNIX merges that page into rm(1) with an updated SYNOPSIS of

4.2BSD and AT&T System V Release 3 UNIX add rmdir(2), reducing both implementations considerably. AT&T System V Release 3 UNIX alone adds -ps, with -p additionally writing any of

• "rmdir: directory: Whole path removed."
• "rmdir: Directory not empty: directory not removed" for EEXIST, otherwise "rmdir: strerror(errno): directory not removed"
• "rmdir: Can not remove . or ..: directory not removed"
• "rmdir: Can not remove current directory: directory not removed"

IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (“POSIX.2”) codifies -p in this behavioural shape, but strips the messages (and, hence, -s).