An equally important task is removing files you no longer need. This section will concentrate on basic file removal. Removing unwanted files is a basic system function. In UNIX, the rm command is used to remove files. With many computer operating systems, removing a file involves no more than removing a pointer to the file location.
Computers usually find files by looking up file locations in a table.
The table contains a map of where the computer can find individual files. Deleting a file usually involves simply deleting the portion of the map that instructs the computer on a file's location. If the computer can't find the file listed on its map, it assumes the file does not exist. The actual data contained in the file may not get overwritten right away. In most cases, it's possible to retrieve a file that has been accidentally deleted simply by recreating the computer's file map.