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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 truncating 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 -option
       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, ran-dom) random)
              dom)

       -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, regardless 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://sourceforge.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)