SRM(14 March 2000)

NAME
srm - securely remove files or directories

SYNOPSIS
srm [OPTION]... FILE...

DESCRIPTION

srm removes each specified file by overwriting, renaming, and truncating it before unlinking. This prevents other people from undeleting or recovering any information about the file from the command line.

srm, like every program that uses the getopt function to parse its arguments, lets you use the -- option to indicate that all following arguments are non-options. To remove a file called `-f' in the current directory, you could type either
    rm -- -f
or
    rm ./-f

OPTIONS

Remove (unlink) the FILE(s).

-d, --directory
    ignored (for compatability with rm(1))

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

-i, --interactive
    prompt before any removal

-r, -R, --recursive
    remove the contents of directories recursively

-s, --simple
    only overwrite the file with a single pass of random data

-v, --verbose
    explain what is being done

--help
    display this help and exit

--version
    output version information and exit

NOTES

srm can not remove write protected files owned by another user, regardless of the permissions on the directory containing the file.

Development and discussion of srm is carried out at http://sourceforge.net/project/?group_id=3297 which is also accessible via http://srm.sourceforge.net.

SEE ALSO
rm(1)