How to enable confirmation alert when using 'rm' command to delete files / folders?

Question

I have found that we cannot recover files/folders when deleted using rm command from here

But, is it possible to add a confirmation alert when using rm command in the terminal?

If you forget this on a command just do `rm --help` and you'll have all the answers right there. — BenKoshy, May 24 '20 at 22:30

score 52 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '15 at 07:58

You can use the -i flag:

rm -i someFile.txt

If you're concerned you may forget to do this, you could alias the rm command:

alias rm="rm -i"

If you place this alias in one of the files sourced when you start a session (e.g., .bashrc), you'll have it available in all your future terminal sessions.

score 20 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

20

You want to use rm -i or rm -I

According to the man pages: man rm

-i prompt before every removal

-I prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing recursively. Less intrusive than -i, while still giving protection against most mistakes

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered May 13 '15 at 07:56

Leon

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Sad to say I don't have the `-I` option on mac os – Juddling Aug 29 '18 at 08:41
@Juddling: I think you can use [safe-rm](http://macappstore.org/safe-rm/) instead. – webster Sep 11 '18 at 09:03
Maybe you can use coreutils (brew install coreutils)! – Ivan Gozali Feb 13 '20 at 18:20

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered May 13 '15 at 07:57

3

As above or perhaps

alias rm="rm -i"

But be careful doing this if you use multiple accounts and one does not have this alias

answered May 13 '15 at 07:57

Ed Heal

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How to enable confirmation alert when using 'rm' command to delete files / folders?

3 Answers3