srm(1) srm(1)
NAME
srm - securely remove files or directories
SYNOPSIS
srm [OPTION]... FILE...
DESCRIPTION
srm removes each specified file by overwriting, renaming, and truncat-
ing 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 "srm -- -f" or "srm ./-f".
OPTIONS
-d, --directory
ignored (for compatibility 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 with a single pass of random data
-m, --medium
overwrite the file with 7 US DoD compliant passes (0xF6, 0x00,
0xFF, random, 0x00, 0xFF, random)
-z, --zero
after overwriting, zero blocks used by file
-n, --nounlink
overwrite file, but do not rename or unlink it
-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, regard-
less of the permissions on the directory containing the file.
The -s option overrides the -m option, if both are present. If neither
is specified, the 35-pass Gutmann algorithm is used.
Development and discussion of srm is carried out at <http://source-
forge.net/project/?group_id=3297>, which is also accessible via
<http://srm.sourceforge.net>.
SEE ALSO
rm(1)
Mac OS X 20 September 2004 srm(1)
Mac OS X 10.6 - Generated Thu Sep 17 20:09:14 CDT 2009