Korn Shell Programming by Example

rmdir

Official Description

Removes a directory.

Syntax

rmdir [-p] directory...
				

Options

-p removes all directories in a pathname.

Oddities

A directory must be empty before you can remove it, and you must have write permission in its parent directory.

Example

$ pwd
/home/obrien
$ mkdir sub1                 # Make a series of subdirectories
$ cd sub1
$ mkdir sub2
$ cd sub2
$ mkdir sub3
$ cd sub3
$ pwd
/home/obrien/sub1/sub2/sub3
$ cd
$
$ pwd
/home/obrien
$
$ rmdir -p sub1/sub2/sub3    # Remove them in one fell swoop
$
$ cd sub1                    # Gone
/bin/ksh: cd: sub1: [No such file or directory]
$