rm

Remove files (delete/unlink)

Syntax
      rm [options]... file...

Options
  -d, --directory      unlink directory, even if non-empty (super-user only)

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

  -i, --interactive    prompt before any removal

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

  -v, --verbose        explain what is being done

      --help           display this help and exit

      --version        output version information and exit

To remove a file you must have write permission on the file and the folder where it is stored.

rm -rf will recursively remove folders and their contents

The OWNER of a file does not need rw permissions in order to rm it.

Undeletable files

The rm command accepts the `--' option which will cause it to stop processing flag options from that point forward. This allows the removal of file names that begin with a dash (`-').
rm -- -filename
Alternatively use an absolute or relative path reference.
rm /home/user/-filename
rm ./-filename

To delete a file with non-printable characters in the name: `bad file name' Use the shell wildcard "?" for each character

rm bad?file?name

Older file systems such as ext2fs, perform badly for massive bulk deletes. The newer ext3fs doesn't have this performance problem.
To remove a very large number of files from a directory it can be quicker to rm them one at a time in a loop:

find my_dir -type f | while read -r; do rm -v "$REPLY"; sleep 0.2; done

"It devoured my paper, it was a really good paper" - Ellen Feiss

Related:

ls - List information about files
rmdir - Remove folder(s)
Equivalent Windows command: DEL - Delete one or more files