For some reason, when I try to delete files using rm -r, it doesn not disable the interactive prompt. Any ideas? I am on a sun solaris 10 box.
rm is probably aliased to 'rm -i'.
try:
\rm -r
or
/usr/bin/rm -r
yes rm is alias as rm -i in my .profile. However, I thought using rm -r will disable the prompt regardless. Is there another solution other than getting rid of the alias? I do want to have the option of keeping the alias.
You need -f not -r ...
Correction. I used rm -f and it still prompts.
OK,
so change the alias to:
alias rm='/usr/xpg4/bin/rm -i'
Thank worked. Thanks
Or better, remove that alias in the first place which is a "false good idea".
.... not unless you ever attempted to 'rm *' 1 hour before the project deadline (been there... - yes, my nick name is "paranoid" 
)
That is a classical mistake we all more or less experienced but I'm still convinced the cure is worst than letting rm doing what God intended.
If you want a command that prompts you, don't call it rm but something different, like del, rmi or whatever.
Otherwise, you'll become used to always be prompted by rm. One day, you'll end up as root on a foreign environment which is behaving as designed, forgot your alias isn't here and remove random files there.
My advice would then be to either create that other alias or simply be extra cautious and double check before running the rm command.