How can I make rm stop asking me for permission?

On my server rm always asks me for permission (even though I'm root) when I run it, on my desktop it does not. Like so:

$ rm mod_wsgi-3.3.tar.gz
rm: remove regular file `mod_wsgi-3.3.tar.gz'?

How do I make it stop prompting me?

2

4 Answers

I would check if your rm is an alias. Typing alias at the command line you will see all defined aliases. I expect something like

alias rm='rm -i'

If so, the alias is probably defined in in ~/.bashrc, so you can remove the alias altogether or change it to suit your needs.

Alternatively, you can remove the alias for the current terminal session using unalias rm.

3

rm -f mod_wsgi-3.3.tar.gz

WARNING: use with caution.

From the man page:

-f, --force ignore nonexistent files, never prompt

The greatest what I found is

\rm file

this will run the original unalias version and keep the alias intact.

We can also use shell built-in command for instance

command rm file

but I surely enjoy the less verbosity in first one

1

Another way to get around the defined alias is to give the full path when you don't want to be prompted:

/bin/rm mod_wsgi-3.3.tar.gz

I like to leave an alias to rm -i in place for safety, for when I'm hacking around in the middle of the night and typing rm .... But when I'm alert enough to remember that I don't want to be prompted, I type /bin/rm ....

1

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