The rm -rf command is used to remove (delete) files and directories on a Linux or Unix system. The rm command is used to remove files, while the -rf options are used to specify the behavior of the command.
The -r option tells rm to remove directories and their contents recursively, including all subdirectories and files. The -f option tells rm to force the removal of files, even if the user does not have write permission for the file or if the file is write-protected.
Using rm -rf is a powerful command and should be used with caution, as it can permanently delete files and directories, and there is no way to recover them.
For example, the following command would delete the directory example and all of its contents, including subdirectories and files:
rm -rf example/
It’s always a good idea to double-check the target of the rm -rf command before executing it to avoid accidentally deleting important files or directories.