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Subject: Re: bug#32843: Feature request: rm -ir variant not asking about
directories
To: =?UTF-8?Q?Niels_M=c3=b6ller?= <nisse@HIDDEN>, 32843 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
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From: Bernhard Voelker <mail@HIDDEN>
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Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2018 20:39:01 +0200
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On 9/26/18 11:19 AM, Niels Möller wrote:
> I have a large directory tree where most but not all directories are
> empty, and where I might want to keep a few of the existing files.
>
> I can use rm -ir to get rm to ask me for each file if it should be
> deleted. But it also asks questions like
>
> rm: descend into directory 'foo'?
> rm: remove directory 'foo'?
>
> to which I'd always say yes (and then attempts to delete any non-empty
> directory fails with a clear warning message).
>
> It would be less tedious if the questions about directories were
> suppressed. A reasonable command line flag might be
>
> --interactive=non-dir
>
> (If there are any entries which are niether files nor directories, e.g,
> a named pipe, I'd want rm to ask, hence "non-dir" rather than "file").
>
> Another variant which would be useful is to traverse a directory tree
> and recursively delete all empty directories, without asking any
> questions. Would make sense as a --recursive/-r flag to rmdir, rather
> than a new option to rm.
>
> I'm using GNU coreutils 8.28, which doesn't seem to have these features.
This report includes several aspects. What exactly do you want to achieve?
If it is simply deleting all empty directories beneath DIR, then this can
already be achieved with existing tools/options:
# Prepare some directories in DIR: a/a/a, a/a/c, ..., c/c/c.
$ mkdir -p DIR/{a..c}/{a..c}/{a..c}
# Place a file in each dir level,
$ touch DIR/a/f DIR/b/a/f DIR/c/a/a/f
# Delete all empty directories
$ find DIR -depth -type d -empty -delete
# See what's left:
$ find DIR | xargs ls -ldog
drwxr-xr-x 5 4096 Sep 26 20:33 DIR
drwxr-xr-x 2 4096 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/a
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/a/f
drwxr-xr-x 3 4096 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/b
drwxr-xr-x 2 4096 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/b/a
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/b/a/f
drwxr-xr-x 3 4096 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/c
drwxr-xr-x 3 4096 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/c/a
drwxr-xr-x 2 4096 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/c/a/a
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 Sep 26 20:33 DIR/c/a/a/f
WRT changing the prompting in rm: IMO the existing functionality is already
quite complex, so adding more complexity and even an option needs some good
justification.
Have a nice day,
Berny
bug-coreutils@HIDDEN:bug#32843; Package coreutils.
Full text available.Received: (at submit) by debbugs.gnu.org; 26 Sep 2018 09:19:49 +0000 From debbugs-submit-bounces <at> debbugs.gnu.org Wed Sep 26 05:19:49 2018 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:54402 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from <debbugs-submit-bounces <at> debbugs.gnu.org>) id 1g55z3-0007EI-3s for submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 05:19:49 -0400 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:56151) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from <nisse@HIDDEN>) id 1g55z1-0007E0-Ms for submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 05:19:48 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from <nisse@HIDDEN>) id 1g55yv-0006RT-H7 for submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 05:19:42 -0400 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.2 (2011-06-06) on eggs.gnu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=disabled version=3.3.2 Received: from lists.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::11]:43925) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from <nisse@HIDDEN>) id 1g55yv-0006RN-Dl for submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 05:19:41 -0400 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:37521) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from <nisse@HIDDEN>) id 1g55yu-0001OJ-LE for bug-coreutils@HIDDEN; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 05:19:41 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from <nisse@HIDDEN>) id 1g55yt-0006Qa-Tp for bug-coreutils@HIDDEN; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 05:19:40 -0400 Received: from mail.lysator.liu.se ([2001:6b0:17:f0a0::3]:39059) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from <nisse@HIDDEN>) id 1g55yt-0006Oh-Io for bug-coreutils@HIDDEN; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 05:19:39 -0400 Received: from mail.lysator.liu.se (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.lysator.liu.se (Postfix) with ESMTP id 21F8F4000E for <bug-coreutils@HIDDEN>; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 11:19:33 +0200 (CEST) Received: from armitage.lysator.liu.se (armitage.lysator.liu.se [IPv6:2001:6b0:17:f0a0::83]) by mail.lysator.liu.se (Postfix) with SMTP id 0312440005 for <bug-coreutils@HIDDEN>; Wed, 26 Sep 2018 11:19:31 +0200 (CEST) Received: by armitage.lysator.liu.se (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Wed, 26 Sep 2018 11:19:31 +0200 From: nisse@HIDDEN (Niels =?utf-8?Q?M=C3=B6ller?=) To: bug-coreutils@HIDDEN Subject: Feature request: rm -ir variant not asking about directories Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2018 11:19:31 +0200 Message-ID: <nn7ej81uqk.fsf@HIDDEN> User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/26.1 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV using ClamSMTP X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6.x X-Received-From: 2001:4830:134:3::11 X-Spam-Score: -4.3 (----) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: submit X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org> List-Unsubscribe: <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/options/debbugs-submit>, <mailto:debbugs-submit-request <at> debbugs.gnu.org?subject=unsubscribe> List-Archive: <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/private/debbugs-submit/> List-Post: <mailto:debbugs-submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org> List-Help: <mailto:debbugs-submit-request <at> debbugs.gnu.org?subject=help> List-Subscribe: <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/debbugs-submit>, <mailto:debbugs-submit-request <at> debbugs.gnu.org?subject=subscribe> Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces <at> debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" <debbugs-submit-bounces <at> debbugs.gnu.org> X-Spam-Score: -5.3 (-----) I have a large directory tree where most but not all directories are empty, and where I might want to keep a few of the existing files. I can use rm -ir to get rm to ask me for each file if it should be deleted. But it also asks questions like rm: descend into directory 'foo'? rm: remove directory 'foo'? to which I'd always say yes (and then attempts to delete any non-empty directory fails with a clear warning message). It would be less tedious if the questions about directories were suppressed. A reasonable command line flag might be=20 --interactive=3Dnon-dir (If there are any entries which are niether files nor directories, e.g, a named pipe, I'd want rm to ask, hence "non-dir" rather than "file"). Another variant which would be useful is to traverse a directory tree and recursively delete all empty directories, without asking any questions. Would make sense as a --recursive/-r flag to rmdir, rather than a new option to rm. I'm using GNU coreutils 8.28, which doesn't seem to have these features. Regards, /Niels --=20 Niels M=C3=B6ller. PGP-encrypted email is preferred. Keyid 368C6677. Internet email is subject to wholesale government surveillance.
nisse@HIDDEN (Niels Möller):bug-coreutils@HIDDEN.
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