Unix has these things called hard links. As such, rm deletes a directory entry pointing to an inode which stores a file, but other directory entries could point at the same file.
Introducing people to this vaguely is nice, so I thikn this should keep saying 'directory entries'. >On Thu, Sep 02, 2021 at 11:10:54PM +0100, Jason McIntyre wrote: >> On Thu, Sep 02, 2021 at 02:28:54PM -0700, Evan Silberman wrote: >> > Speaking of the first sentence of rm(1): >> > >> > Remove extraneous word from command description >> > >> > "non-directory files" reads more naturally and means the same thing as >> > "non-directory type files". >> > >> >> true. >> >> i wonder if it was originally an attempt to not quote posix >> (or posix attempting to not quote bsd). posix refers to removing >> "directory entries", which seems more natural. >> >> regardless, rm can remove both directory entries/non-directory type >> files as well as directories. although by default it does not remove >> directories, i wonder if we could just say: >> >> The >> .Nm >> utility >> attempts to remove any files specified on the command line. >> >> and NAME could be: >> >> - rm - remove directory entries >> + rm - remove files >> >> but maybe that is unixical heresy? >> >> jmc >> > >i cannot really make up my mind here. posix and other bsds all use >"remove directory entries" for NAME. i worry that my proposal would be >needless change, and a lessening of valid terminology. so i probably >reject my own proposal. > >on the other hand, the phrase "non-directory type files" is pretty >awful. posix is clearer i think, sticking to "directory entries >specified by each file argument".we could also use this: "directory >entries specified on the command line". but that would feel like >deliberately avoiding the term "file", which is clear and simple. > >just using "non-directory files" is also weird. i mean, you can very >much remove directory files. > >jmc > >> > diff --git a/bin/rm/rm.1 b/bin/rm/rm.1 >> > index a2526a36392..1be2bf31913 100644 >> > --- a/bin/rm/rm.1 >> > +++ b/bin/rm/rm.1 >> > @@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ >> > .Sh DESCRIPTION >> > The >> > .Nm >> > -utility attempts to remove the non-directory type files specified on the >> > +utility attempts to remove the non-directory files specified on the >> > command line. >> > If the permissions of the file do not permit writing, and the standard >> > input device is a terminal, the user is prompted (on the standard error >> > > >
