when deleting multiple files or folders what do you recommend to be safe?

Question

When it comes to removing files. Instead of

rm some_file.txt

or

rm -rf some_folder

we do

del some_file.txt

or

del some_folder

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

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

which just moves your files and folders to the trash such that you can recover them later.

What’s your choice?

Answer 1

You're on a good path if you want to learn how to solve this problem yourself. However, this is a common problem, and there is already a tool available.

You can install trash via apt install trash-cli. Once installed, you can 'safely' delete files, list the contents of Trash, restore files and empty the Trash:

1. trash /path/to/some/file
2. trash-list
3. trash-restore
4. trash-empty.

You can read more about trash.

---

Notes:

1. Some systems will have restore-trash instead of trash-restore.
2. Many Debian distributions have gvfs-trash from gvfs-bin installed by default.
3. gvfs-trash has been replaced by gio trash.

Answer 2

Wellcome! You can recover the data almost always (forensic methods). But moving to the trash bin is the fastest and clearest method.