GNU bug report logs - #38729
26.1; dired-flag-file-deletion should just skip over .. and .

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: trentbuck <at> gmail.com (Trent W. Buck)
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 26.1; dired-flag-file-deletion should just skip over .. and .
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2019 18:24:54 +1100

When you do this:

    emacs -Q -nw .
    C-n     # until you reach the ".." line
    d       # d runs the command dired-flag-file-deletion
    x       # x runs the command dired-do-flagged-delete

Then you get

    Cannot operate on ‘.’ or ‘..’

Which is entirely reasonable and obvious.

What just happened to me was I had sorted a directory by time,
scrolled past the first page of recent files, then did

    C-u 100000 d x

to delete all the remaining files.
And of course I got

    Cannot operate on ‘.’ or ‘..’

So then I had to find . and/or .. in the list and use u (dired-unmark)
before I could do x (dired-do-flagged-delete).
This was a minor annoyance.

Can you just make d (dired-do-flagged-delete) skip over the . and
.. lines, since you can never delete them?

Note that m (dired-mark) should remain as-is, since e.g. "m ! du -s RET"
works fine on . and .. special lines.

Message #8 received at 38729 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
To: trentbuck <at> gmail.com (Trent W. Buck)
Cc: 38729 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#38729: 26.1; dired-flag-file-deletion should just skip over
 .. and .
Date: Mon, 23 May 2022 12:18:53 +0200

trentbuck <at> gmail.com (Trent W. Buck) writes:

> Can you just make d (dired-do-flagged-delete) skip over the . and
> .. lines, since you can never delete them?

I've now done this in Emacs 29, and I wondered whether all marking
commands should, but I guess not.  It's somewhat inconsistent --
dired-mark-files-in-region (which happens when you drag an area with the
mouse) skips the dot files for all marks, but I guess nobody complains
about that inconsistency.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

Message #13 received at 38729 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Trent W. Buck" <trentbuck <at> gmail.com>
To: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Cc: 38729 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#38729: 26.1; dired-flag-file-deletion should just skip over
 .. and .
Date: Sat, 28 May 2022 01:37:09 +1000

Lars Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> trentbuck <at> gmail.com (Trent W. Buck) writes:
> 
> > Can you just make d (dired-do-flagged-delete) skip over the . and
> > .. lines, since you can never delete them?
> 
> I've now done this in Emacs 29, and I wondered whether all marking
> commands should, but I guess not.  It's somewhat inconsistent --
> dired-mark-files-in-region (which happens when you drag an area with the
> mouse) skips the dot files for all marks, but I guess nobody complains
> about that inconsistency.

I never use a mouse, so I wouldn't have noticed :-)

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