RMDIR(1)

📦
version 9.12 · 27 versions
, in arch rolling

💖 RMDIR — the girlies' guide to yeeting empty folders 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to rmdir, a lil User Commands baddie from the GNU coreutils fam. she's giving "delete the folder" energy but with one very specific rule: the directory has to be EMPTY. that's the whole vibe. no cap. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

rmdir — remove empty directories 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

rmdir [OPTION]... DIRECTORY...

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Remove the DIRECTORY(ies), if they are empty. that's it. that's the whole thing. if there's stuff inside, she's not doing it, and honestly? respect the boundaries. 🫶

Here's every single flag, no skips, no shortcuts, because we don't gatekeep here:

  • --ignore-fail-on-non-empty — lowkey the chill one. ignore each failure to remove a non-empty directory. so she just… doesn't complain about it. iconic behaviour. 💜
  • -p, --parents — remove DIRECTORY and its ancestors; e.g., rmdir -p a/b is similar to rmdir a/b a. it's giving "clean up the whole chain, bestie". 🌈
  • -v, --verbose — output a diagnostic for every directory processed. she will narrate her every move, main character energy fr fr. 👑
  • --help — display this help and exit. a little "what can you even do" moment. ✨
  • --version — output version information and exit. she'll tell you exactly which era of herself you're talking to. 🦋
heads up bestie: the whole point of rmdir is that it only works on empty directories. that's not a bug, that's the assignment. 💀

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

Written by David MacKenzie. we love a legend. 💖

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

found something cursed? don't suffer in silence, tell the devs:

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. (read that again bestie. NO WARRANTY. she's free and she's honest. 😭)

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/rmdir> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) rmdir invocation'

iykyk 💜

and that's the whole page, bestie! this was GNU coreutils 9.12, dated September 2026, living her life as RMDIR(1). go forth and delete responsibly — empty folders only, periodt. 💅✨🎀

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