Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#1

Post by raibosome » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 7:57 AM UTC

We’ve all had our fair share of accidentally removing files. Instead of

  rm my_file.txt

or

  rm -rf my_folder

we do

  del my_file.txt

or

  del my_folder

where you can define your Bash alias for `del` in ~/.custom_aliases as

  function del() {
      mv $* ~/.Trash
  }

which simply moves your files/folders to the trash such that you can recover them easily later.

What’s your alternative?

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#2

Post by fxfan » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 8:02 AM UTC

I wish something like this were built into kernel filesystem driver. All deletions automatically go to this specific place in the filesystem.

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#3

Post by WCSTombs » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 8:10 AM UTC

For Linux users: also look into the trash-cli [1] package, which complies with the FreeDesktop.org trash specification and remembers the original path, etc. so that trash items can be restored even with filename collisions. Then it's

    trash-put my_file.txt

[1] https://github.com/andreafrancia/trash-cli

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#4

Post by floatingatoll » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 8:36 AM UTC

While not an alternative, please bugfix your bash:

mv "$@" ~/.Trash/

https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki/SC2086

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#5

Post by surfsvammel » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 11:24 AM UTC

rm is for removing stuff. If you don’t want to remove the file, use mv.

Take care when entering commands, if it’s important that you don’t mess up, spend an extra second. Don’t run around shooting rm -rf as super user.

With great powers comes great responsibility.

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#6

Post by everdrive » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 1:13 PM UTC

I've never liked the idea of a trashcan, and usually shift-delete when I'm in the gui. Deleting shouldn't be done casually, but a ui shouldn't second guess a user any more than it has to.

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#7

Post by caf » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 1:16 PM UTC

This is going to cause you pain if the tree you're "deleting" is on a different filesystem to ~ and too big...

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#8

Post by saagarjha » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 1:16 PM UTC

Time Machine.

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#9

Post by dan-robertson » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 1:16 PM UTC

floatingatoll wrote: post #4

While not an alternative, please bugfix your bash: mv "$@" ~/.Trash/ https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki/SC2086

Even simpler:

  alias del="mv -t ~/.Trash/"

Re: Stop Using `rm` in Bash. Use `del`

#10

Post by joelthelion » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

surfsvammel wrote: post #5

rm is for removing stuff. If you don’t want to remove the file, use mv. Take care when entering commands, if it’s important that you don’t mess up, spend an extra second. Don’t run around shooting rm -rf as super user. With great powers comes great responsibility.

Would be nice if filesystems were garbage collected, though. I don't see a fundamental reason why rm couldn't be undoable the second after you issue it.