rmdir -- remove directory

DESCRIPTION

The rmdir command removes each requested directory. Each directory must be empty for rmdir to be successful.

Options

-p

removes all intermediate components. For example,

rmdir -p abc/def/ghi

is equivalent to

rmdir abc/def/ghi
rmdir abc/def
rmdir abc

DIAGNOSTICS

Possible exit status values are:

0: Successful completion.
1: Failure because directory is not a directory, or because it still contains files or subdirectories.
2: Failure because of an invalid command line option, or no directory names specified.

Non-empty directory: means that files or other directories are found under the directory to be removed. Use rm -r to remove the directory.
No such directory: means that the requested directory does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible.
Current directory illegal: indicates that you should use cd to change to another directory before removing the current directory.

NOTE

rmdir is provided as both an external utility and a built-in MKS KornShell utility.

PORTABILITY

POSIX.2. x/OPEN Portability Guide 4.0. All UNIX systems. Windows 10. Windows Server 2016. Windows Server 2019. Windows 11. Windows Server 2022. Windows Server 2025.

A command of the same name comes with Windows. This command is provided as an alternative because it accepts multiple arguments and UNIX style file names.

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rmdir
remove directory

Command, KornShell Built-in

SYNOPSIS