Command line trash bin access

[Telengard]

Recently I nearly gave myself a heart attack using rm -viR. (I don't normally use the prompting option, but included it here to protect the ignorant.) This isn't the first time I've caught myself being reckless, but I want it to be the last time. So I went Googling and found a couple of possible replacements for the aforementioned merciless command.

KTRASH(1) helper program KTRASH(1)

NAME
ktrash - Helper program to handle the KDE trash can

SYNOPSIS
ktrash [Qt-options] [KDE-options] [options]

DESCRIPTION
ktrash is a helper program to handle the KDE trash can.

Note: to move files to the trash, do not use ktrash, but "kfmclient
move 'url' trash:/"

Looks good, seems to work, and it's built in to KDE.

The second option I found is trash-cli.

* Command line interface compatible with on of the rm command. You can alias rm with trash.
* Remembers original path, deletion time and file permissions of each trashed file.
* Compatible with the KDE trash.
* Implements the FreeDesktop.org Trash Specification
* Works with volume other than the home volume (e.g. USB pen or another partition).

Sounds good, but it's not in the Ubuntu repos so I'd have to manually install. It's written in Python AFAIK.

Does anyone have experience with either of these? Are there any disadvantages or pitfalls to using either of these in scripts? Is there a better solution?

Edit: I'm using Kubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04.3. See Rog131's reply for the equivalent command on Jaunty.

[toad]

Re: Command line trash bin access

Hi,

as you probably know the rubbish bin is no more than a normal directory. I therefore see no need for a cli bin 'cos all you need to do is dedicate a "rubbish" directory and _move_ the stuff you don't want anymore into it. You could safely forget about the rm command until you actually want to delete whatever is in that directory.

And as for being reckless - I know exactly where you are coming from and I try to adhere to the above. So far it has worked, but I'm sure I'll find a way of borking my system despite everything

[Telengard]

Re: Command line trash bin access

as you probably know the rubbish bin is no more than a normal directory.

But it is more than a directory. There is also a means for tracking the origin of rubbished files. I think that gives the trash bin a significant advantage over a standard directory. Maybe you could use soft-links or a database, but without some automation that would be a hassle.

I've sometimes put things into archives instead of deleting them. That's usually what I do with any configuration files. I just put it into a compressed archive with a different name. But that still leaves the archive on my hard disk, and not all my files compress as well as configuration files do.

[toad]

Re: Command line trash bin access

There is also a means for tracking the origin of rubbished files.

Good point, never occurred to me as I don't really use it

Here a list of what Arch throws up when asked for "trash". Perhaps one of them is of use to you - let us know if you find one

libtrash 3.2-1
A shared, preloaded library that implements a trash can under Linux
delsafe 0.6.0-1 (1)
delsafe is a set of utilities that when you delete a file the file is moved into a trash can via LD_PRELOAD
libtrash 3.2-1 (9)
A shared, preloaded library that implements a trash can under Linux
mutt-trash-nntp 1.5.19-1 (2)
A small but very powerful text-based mail client. Development version patched with nntp and trash folder support.
thunar-light 1.0.1-2 (34)
Xfce file manager compiled for light wm use (no xfce4-panel dep, no wallpaler-plugin, no trash panel plugin)
trash 0.2-3 (12)
Command-line utility to move files to a shared trash can
trash-cli 0.1.10.r55-1 (Out of Date) (3)
Command line trashcan (recycle bin) interface

[Rog131]

Re: Command line trash bin access

The "kioclient move 'url' trash:/" /1/ seems to work. It moves the file (url) to the ~/.local/share/Trash/files/ and makes the info file to the ~/.local/share/Trash/info/ /2/, /3/.

As there are the info files /4/ the KDE trash can system could show and restore them.


/1/ With the Jaunty, ktrash --help

Usage: ktrash [Qt-options] [KDE-options] [options] [ignored]

Helper program to handle the KDE trash can
Note: to move files to the trash, do not use ktrash, but "kioclient move 'url' trash:/"

/2/ > freedesktop trash-spec
/3/ or to the local /.Trash-1000/files/ & /.Trash-1000/info/. Trash settings !.
/4/ They are text files with the .trashinfo extension. The trashinfo file has the path and deletion date.

[kubicle]

Re: Command line trash bin access

The second option I found is trash-cli.

* Command line interface compatible with on of the rm command. You can alias rm with trash.
* Remembers original path, deletion time and file permissions of each trashed file.
* Compatible with the KDE trash.
* Implements the FreeDesktop.org Trash Specification
* Works with volume other than the home volume (e.g. USB pen or another partition).

Sounds good, but it's not in the Ubuntu repos so I'd have to manually install. It's written in Python AFAIK.

Does anyone have experience with either of these? Are there any disadvantages or pitfalls to using either of these in scripts? Is there a better solution?

Which version of kubuntu are you using, trash-cli is available in jaunty repos

[Telengard]

Re: Command line trash bin access

$ apt-cache search --names-only trash
libtrash - A trash can library to use with LD_PRELOAD
gnome-applets - Various applets for GNOME 2 panel - binary files
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:  Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS
Release:    8.04
Codename:    hardy

I'm waiting for the next LTS to upgrade, thus skipping Jaunty and Karmic.

[kubicle]

Re: Command line trash bin access

I'm waiting for the next LTS to upgrade, thus skipping Jaunty and Karmic.

The only dependencies in the jaunty package are python (>=2.3) and python-support (>=0.7.1), so if your system meets the requirements, you can probably use the jaunty package in hardy as well (download the .deb manually and install)

trash-cli is also available for hardy from a ppa repository:
https://launchpad.net/~chameleondave/+archive/ppa

[Telengard]

Re: Command line trash bin access

The "kioclient move 'url' trash:/" /1/ seems to work. It moves the file (url) to the ~/.local/share/Trash/files/ and makes the info file to the ~/.local/share/Trash/info/ /2/, /3/.
. . .
/1/ With the Jaunty, ktrash --help

Rog131, sorry for missing your post before. It's good to know Jaunty has a similar command. I'll have to edit my OP to state explicitly that I'm on Hardy.

I've been using kfmclient move filename "trash:/" ever since opening this thread. So far it works fine. The only caveat so far seems to be that moving to trash seems to be much slower than deleting outright. It is to be expected, I suppose.

[Telengard]

Re: Command line trash bin access

trash-cli is also available for hardy from a ppa repository

Thanks for pointing that out, but I don't see a need to install optional software when I can use kfmclient. What do you think?

[kubicle]

Re: Command line trash bin access

trash-cli is also available for hardy from a ppa repository

Thanks for pointing that out, but I don't see a need to install optional software when I can use kfmclient. What do you think?

Sure, use the tool that works the best for you, I was just bringing up the info as you brought up trash-cli as an option.

Although I'd think 'trash filename' is somewhat more convenient than 'kfmclient move filename "trash:/"', you can of course create a one-liner script to ease the usage of kfmclient.

As for me, I don't really use either (aliasing 'rm' to 'rm -i' has so far been enough for me), but the trash bin approach does have some appeal, so I just may give it a go.

[olembe]

Re: Command line trash bin access

I found this thread really useful. I've just created the following shell script:

#!/bin/bash
#zap - move files to trash

kioclient move $@ trash:/

saved it as /usr/local/bin/zap and run 'chmod +x /usr/local/bin/zap'. I can now 'zap' anything from the command line. What I particularly like is that this approach doesn't need to you add -r to delete directories: it moves directories to trash as most people would expect it to, instead of complaining as rm does.

[Telengard]

Re: Command line trash bin access

Thanks for the nice suggestions kubicle and olembe. I have come up with the script below. It is very similar to olembe's script, but reports what was done.

#! /bin/bash

kfmclient move $@ "trash:/"
echo Moved to trash bin:
for filename in $@
 do echo $filename
done

I put it in ~/bin/trash because it doesn't need to be system wide on my own computer. It works as expected, and trashed files may be restored from the trash bin gui, but it is very slow compared to rm.

$ time trash foo
Moved to trash bin:
foo

real  0m20.274s
user  0m0.116s
sys   0m0.028s

I had thought to move each item separately and report each file name after moving, but that would multiply the trash access delay by the number of items. Three items or more would exceed 1 minute!

#! /bin/bash
#
#This would be way too slow! I'm using the first script in this post instead.
#
for item in $@
 do kfmclient move $item "trash:/" && echo "trashed $item"
done

[toad]

Re: Command line trash bin access

I've started using trash - very simple, very quick. You got it in your repos? I can recommend it...

[olembe]

Re: Command line trash bin access

Telengard: that's a great addition! I've added it to my script now.