Difference between rm and rm -rf [closed]

Question

I am fairly new to linux and I found this command 'rm -rf' which is confusing. I wanted to know whats the difference between 'rm' and 'rm -rf' and when should those be used?

Answer 1

rm is the same as "del". It deletes the specified file. It will not delete directories. It will also warn you about deleting some files.

rm -rf adds the "recursive" and "force" flags. It will remove the specified file and silently ignore any warnings when doing so. If it is a directory, it will remove the directory and all its contents, including subdirectories.

Answer 2

Check out the man page. rm removes files and -rf are to options: -r remove directories and their contents recursively, -f ignore nonexistent files, never prompt.