Make `rm` move to trash
There is a specification (draft) for Trash on freedesktop.org. It is apparently what is usually implemented by desktop environments.
A commandline implementation would be trash-cli. Without having had a closer look, it seems to provide the funtionality you want. If not, tell us in how far this is only a partial solution.
As far as using any program as replacement/alias for rm is concerned, there are good reasons not to do that. Most important for me are:
- The program would need to understand/handle all of
rm's options and act accordingly - It has the risk of getting used to the semantics of your "new rm" and performing commands with fatal consequences when working on other people's systems
The previous answers mention commands trash-cli and rmtrash. Neither of those are found by default on Ubuntu 18.04, but the command gio is. Commanding gio help trash outputs:
Usage:
gio trash [OPTION…] [LOCATION...]
Move files or directories to the trash.
Options:
-f, --force Ignore nonexistent files, never prompt
--empty Empty the trash
I tested using gio trash FILENAME on the command line, and it works just like I'd selected the file in the file browser and clicked the DEL button: the file is moved to the desktop's Trash folder. (The command doesn't prompt for confirmation even though I did not use the -f option.)
Deleting files this way is reversible, while being more convenient than redefining rm to be rm -i for safety and having to confirm each deletion, which still leaves you out of luck if you accidentally confirm a deletion you shouldn't have.
I added alias tt='gio trash' to my alias definitions file; tt is a mnemonic for To Trash.
Added on edit on 2018-06-27: On server machines, there is no equivalent of a trash directory. I've written the following Bash script that does the job; on desktop machines, it uses gio trash, and on other machines, moves the file(s) given as parameter(s) to a trash directory it creates. The script is tested to work; I use it all the time myself. Script updated on 2020-08-10.
#!/bin/bash
#
# move-to-trash
#
# Teemu Leisti 2020-08-10
#
# This script moves the files given as arguments to the trash directory, if they
# are not already there. It works both on (Gnome) desktop and server hosts. (The
# gio command only exists for Gnome.)
#
# The script is intended as a command-line equivalent of deleting a file from a
# graphical file manager, which, in the usual case, moves the deleted file(s) to
# a built-in trash directory. On server hosts, the analogy is not perfect, as
# the script does not offer the functionality of restoring a trashed file to its
# original location, nor that of emptying the trash directory; rather, it offers
# an alternative to the 'rm' command, giving the user the peace of mind that
# they can still undo an unintended deletion before emptying the trash
# directory.
#
# To determine whether it's running on a desktop host, the script tests for the
# existence of the gio command and of directory ~/.local/share/Trash. In case
# both exist, the script relies on the 'gio trash' command. Otherwise, it treats
# the host as a server.
#
# There is no built-in trash directory on server hosts, so the script creates
# directory ~/.Trash/, unless it already exists.
#
# The script appends a millisecond-resolution time stamp to all the files it
# moves to the trash directory, both to inform the user of the time of the
# deletion, and to avoid overwrites when moving a file to trash.
#
# The script will not choke on a nonexistent file. It outputs the final
# disposition of each argument: does not exist, was already in trash, or was
# moved to trash.
gio_command_exists=0
command -v gio > /dev/null 2>&1
if (( $? == 0 )) ; then
gio_command_exists=1
fi
# Exit on using an uninitialized variable, and on a command returning an error.
# (The latter setting necessitates appending " || true" to those arithmetic
# calculations and other commands that can return 0, lest the shell interpret
# the result as signalling an error.)
set -eu
is_desktop=0
if [[ -d ~/.local/share/Trash ]] && (( gio_command_exists == 1 )) ; then
is_desktop=1
trash_dir_abspath=$(realpath ~/.local/share/Trash)
else
trash_dir_abspath=$(realpath ~/.Trash)
if [[ -e $trash_dir_abspath ]] ; then
if [[ ! -d $trash_dir_abspath ]] ; then
echo "The file $trash_dir_abspath exists, but is not a directory. Exiting."
exit 1
fi
else
mkdir $trash_dir_abspath
echo "Created directory $trash_dir_abspath"
fi
fi
for file in "$@" ; do
file_abspath=$(realpath -- "$file")
file_basename=$(basename -- "$file_abspath")
if [[ ! -e $file_abspath ]] ; then
echo "does not exist: $file_abspath"
elif [[ "$file_abspath" == "$trash_dir_abspath"* ]] ; then
echo "already in trash: $file_abspath"
else
if (( is_desktop == 1 )) ; then
gio trash "$file_abspath" || true
else
# The name of the moved file shall be the original name plus a
# millisecond-resolution timestamp.
beginning="$trash_dir_abspath/$file_basename"_DELETED_ON_
move_to_abspath="$beginning$(date '+%Y-%m-%d_AT_%H-%M-%S.%3N')"
while [[ -e "$move_to_abspath" ]] ; do
# Generate a new name with a new timestamp, as the previously
# generated one denoted an existing file.
move_to_abspath="$beginning$(date '+%Y-%m-%d_AT_%H-%M-%S.%3N')"
done
# We're now almost certain that the file denoted by name
# $move_to_abspath does not exist. For that to be the case, an
# extremely unlikely race condition would have had to take place:
# some other process would have had to create a file with the name
# $move_to_abspath after the execution of the existence test above.
# However, to make absolute sure that moving the file to the trash
# directory will always be successful, we shall give the '-f'
# (force) flag to the 'mv' command.
/bin/mv -f "$file_abspath" "$move_to_abspath"
fi
echo "moved to trash: $file_abspath"
fi
done
Trash-cli is a linux application that can be installed using apt-get in Ubuntu or yum in Fedora. Using the command trash listOfFiles will move the specified into your trash bin.