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https://github.com/mikedacre/careful_rm

A safe wrapper for rm that adds useful warnings and an optional recycle/trash mode
https://github.com/mikedacre/careful_rm

alternative antigen bash command-line coreutils linux macos macosx oh-my-zsh rm shell trash-mode wrapper zsh

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A safe wrapper for rm that adds useful warnings and an optional recycle/trash mode

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README 

        
##########

Careful rm

##########



Version: 1.0-beta10



A wrapper for rm that adds more useful warnings and an optional recycle/trash

mode



Can be used as a drop-in replacement for ``rm`` on any Linux or MacOS system with

Python > 2.6. With no arguments or configuration, it will warn you if you delete

more than 3 files or any directories, and will print the files and folders to

delete to the console when prompting for approval (something ``rm -I`` does not

do).



All ``rm`` commands are implemented here. In addition, passing ``-c`` will result in

files being trashed/recycled instead of deleted. Applescript is used on MacOS,

otherwise the best trash location is chosen (see below). Most files can be

restored using GUI tools (e.g. Nautilus/Finder), as the default Trash folders

and metadata are used (e.g. *Put Back* works on Mac).



Note: passing ``-s`` will result in files being destroyed with ``shred`` and will

forcibly override and disable recycle mode.



Ideally, this tool should be symlinked to ``rm`` and the file ``~/.rm_recycle_home``

should be created, which will make recycling automatic only for files in your

home directory. This will provide a great deal of safety without majorly messing

up any sys-admin work.



.. contents:: **Contents**



Usage

-----



.. code::



    Usage: careful_rm.py [-c] [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ..



    Arguments

    ---------

        -c, --recycle         move to trash instead of deleting (forced on by

                              ~/.rm_recycle)

        -s, --shred           run shred on all files (recursively if directories

                              included) prior to deleting, override recycle

            --direct          force off recycling, even if ~/.rm_recycle exists

            --dryrun          do not actually remove or move files, just print

        -h, --help            display this help and exit



    All other arguments passed to rm



    Common rm arguments

    -------------------

        -f, --force           ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt

        -i                    prompt before every removal

        -I                    prompt once before removing more than three files, or

                              when removing recursively

        -r, -R, --recursive   remove directories and their contents recursively

        -d, --dir             remove empty directories

        -v, --verbose         explain what is being done



    For full help for rm, see `man rm`, note that only the '-i', '-f' and '-v'

    options have any meaning in recycle mode, which uses `mv`. Argument order does

    not matter.



Install as a plugin

-------------------



Requirements

~~~~~~~~~~~~



- An ``sh`` style shell, preferably ``zsh``, ``dash``, or ``bash``

- Python version 2.6+, no additional modules required



*It should work almost everywhere*



**Note**: If anyone can help with a FISH and/or Windows version, that would be great



General Install

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



With any ``sh`` like shell (``sh``, ``bash``, ``fish``, ``zsh``)



1. ``cd ~``

2. ``git clone [email protected]:MikeDacre/careful_rm.git``

3. ``echo "source ~/careful_rm/careful_rm.alias.sh" >> .bashrc``



ZSH

~~~



The ZSH version of this plugin is provided by the ``careful_rm.plugin.zsh`` file.

In addition to aliasing ``rm`` to ``careful_rm``, it also sets a ``$TRASH`` variable

that updates with every directory change and makes ``~trash`` a named directory

that points to ``$TRASH``.



ZSH offers some great ways to install as a plugin and stay up to date, my

favorite is antigen, but any of the following methods will work.



`Antigen `_

.........................................



If you're using `Antigen `_, just add ``antigen

bundle MikeDacre/careful_rm`` to your ``.zshrc`` file where you're loading your

other zsh plugins. You will need to reload ZSH to install the plugin.



`Oh-My-ZSH `_

................................................



1. ``mkdir -p ~/oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins``

2. ``cd ~/oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins``

3. ``git clone [email protected]:MikeDacre/careful_rm.git``

4. add ``plugins+=(careful_rm)`` to the right place in your ``~/.zshrc``



`Zgen `_

....................................



If you're using `Zgen `_, add ``zgen load

MikeDacre/careful_rm`` to your ``.zshrc`` file where you're loading your other zsh

plugins.



Install Script Only

-------------------



If you want you can install the code directly and handle shell integration

yourself. The project can be installed with either pip, or just by directly

downloading the script.



To alias the code to rm yourself, you can download and source the

``careful_rm.alias.sh`` script, or just add something like this to your

``~/.bashrc``.



.. code:: shell



    if hash careful_rm.py 2>/dev/null; then

        alias rm="$(command -v careful_rm.py)"

    elif hash careful_rm 2>/dev/null; then

        alias rm="$(command -v careful_rm)"

    else

        alias rm="rm -I"

    fi



Via PIP

~~~~~~~



This project is on `PyPI `_ so you can just install it

with `pip`, but you *won't get any shell integration*:



.. code:: shell



   pip install careful_rm



Direct Install

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



You can just put it into your ``$PATH`` and use it directly. e.g.:



1. ``cd /usr/local/bin``

2. ``wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MikeDacre/careful_rm/master/careful_rm.py``



Rationale and Implementation

----------------------------



``rm`` is a powerful \*nix tool that simply drops a file from the drive index. It

doesn't delete it or put it in a Trash can, it just de-indexes it which makes

the file hard to recover unless you want to put in the work, and pretty easy to

recover if you are willing to spend a few hours trying (use ``shred`` to actually

secure erase files).



``careful_rm.py`` is inspired by the ``-I`` interactive mode of ``rm`` and by

`safe-rm `_. ``safe-rm`` adds a recycle

bin mode to rm, and the ``-I`` interactive mode adds a prompt if you delete more

than a handful of files or recursively delete a directory. ``ZSH`` also has an

option to warn you if you recursively rm a directory.



These are all great, but I found them unsatisfying. What I want is for rm to be

quick and not bother me for single file deletions (so ``rm -i`` is out), but to

let me know when I am deleting a lot of files, and *to actually print a list of

files that are about to be deleted*. I also want it to have the option to

trash/recycle my files instead of just straight deleting them.... like

``safe-rm``, but not so intrusive (safe-rm defaults to recycle, and doesn't warn).



``careful_rm.py`` is fundamentally a simple ``rm`` wrapper, that accepts all of the

same commands as ``rm``, but with a few additional options features. In the source

code ``CUTOFF`` is set to **3**, so deleting more files than that will prompt the

user. Also, deleting a directory will prompt the user separately with a count of

all files and subdirectories within the folders to be deleted.



Furthermore, ``careful_rm.py`` implements a fully integrated trash mode that can

be toggled on with ``-c``. It can also be forced on by adding a file at

``~/.rm_recycle``, or toggled on only for ``$HOME`` (the best idea), by

``~/.rm_recycle_home``. The mode can be disabled on the fly by passing ``--direct``,

which forces off recycle mode.



The recycle mode tries to find the best location to recycle to on MacOS or

Linux, on MacOS it also tries to use Apple Script to trash files, which means

the original location is preserved (note Applescript can be slow, you can

disable it by adding a ``~/.no_apple_rm`` file, but *Put Back* won't work). The

*best* location for trashes goes in this order:



1. ``$HOME/.Trash`` on Mac or ``$HOME/.local/share/Trash`` on Linux

2. ``/.Trashes`` on Mac or ``/.Trash-$UID`` on Linux

3. ``/tmp/$USER_trash``



Always the best trash can to avoid Volume hopping is favored, as moving across

file systems is slow. If the trash does not exist, the user is prompted to

create it, they then also have the option to fall back to the root trash

(``/tmp/$USER_trash``) or just ``rm`` the files.



``/tmp/$USER_trash`` is almost always used for deleting system/root files, but

**note** that you most likely do not want to save those files, and straight ``rm``

is generally better.