The rm command in Linux and UNIX removes a file.
Example
Here we use the ls command to see the files in our directory. Then we delete file_1. To delete loads of files at once we can use a wildcard. A wildcard allows us to select all files that mach a start or end pattern or even all files.
admin@raspberrypi:~/temp $ ls
file_1 file_2 file_4 file_6 file_8 other_file_1 other_file_3
file_10 file_3 file_5 file_7 file_9 other_file_2 other_file_4
admin@raspberrypi:~/temp $ rm file_1
admin@raspberrypi:~/temp $ ls
file_10 file_3 file_5 file_7 file_9 other_file_2 other_file_4
file_2 file_4 file_6 file_8 other_file_1 other_file_3
admin@raspberrypi:~/temp $ rm file_*
admin@raspberrypi:~/temp $ ls
other_file_1 other_file_2 other_file_3 other_file_4
admin@raspberrypi:~/temp $ rm *
admin@raspberrypi:~/temp $ ls
admin@raspberrypi:~/temp $
Usage
Usage: rm [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).
-f, --force ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt
-i prompt before every removal
-I prompt once before removing more than three files, or
when removing recursively; less intrusive than -i,
while still giving protection against most mistakes
--interactive[=WHEN] prompt according to WHEN: never, once (-I), or
always (-i); without WHEN, prompt always
--one-file-system when removing a hierarchy recursively, skip any
directory that is on a file system different from
that of the corresponding command line argument
--no-preserve-root do not treat '/' specially
--preserve-root[=all] do not remove '/' (default);
with 'all', reject any command line argument
on a separate device from its parent
-r, -R, --recursive remove directories and their contents recursively
-d, --dir remove empty directories
-v, --verbose explain what is being done
--help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit
By default, rm does not remove directories. Use the --recursive (-r or -R)
option to remove each listed directory, too, along with all of its contents.
To remove a file whose name starts with a '-', for example '-foo',
use one of these commands:
rm -- -foo
rm ./-foo
Note that if you use rm to remove a file, it might be possible to recover
some of its contents, given sufficient expertise and/or time. For greater
assurance that the contents are truly unrecoverable, consider using shred(1).
GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/rm>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) rm invocation'