RMDIR

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: February 2026
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NAME

rmdir - remove empty directories  

SYNOPSIS

rmdir [,OPTION/]... ,DIRECTORY/...  

DESCRIPTION

Remove the DIRECTORY(ies), if they are empty.

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#rmdi-ignor-fai-o-no-empty'--ignore-fail-on-non-emptyX'tty: link'

ignore each failure to remove a non-empty directory

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#rmdi-p'-p, --parentsX'tty: link'

remove DIRECTORY and its ancestors; e.g., 'rmdir -p a/b' is similar to 'rmdir a/b a'

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#rmdi-v'-v, --verboseX'tty: link'

output a diagnostic for every directory processed

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/rmdir#rmdi-help'--helpX'tty: link'

display this help and exit

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/rmdir#rmdi-version'--versionX'tty: link'

output version information and exit

 

AUTHOR

Written by David MacKenzie.  

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org

Report Gentoo bugs to: https://bugs.gentoo.org/
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>  

SEE ALSO

rmdir(2)

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

Packaged by Gentoo (9.10 (p0))
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.

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

AUTHOR

REPORTING BUGS

SEE ALSO