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I like to use rm but I often made mistakes so that I remove something mistakenly so I want to make somthing like mv .trash

so that 

 rm file

is equal to 

 mv file ~/.trash

besides, I also want to periodically empty the ~/.trash folder then if I have made rm as mv, how to empty the ~/.trash folder

thanks

misteryes
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2 Answers2

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Make a simple script called for example move_to_trash.sh:

#!/bin/sh

mv "$@" ~/.trash

and then, add to your shell configuration file (for example, ~/.bashrc) : 

alias rm <path to script>/move_to_trash.sh

To empty your trash periodically, you can configure a cronjob. Look at this tutorial for examples: http://www.ubuntututorials.com/use-crontab-ubuntu/.

lgeorget
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    But you should in fact use a program like `trash-cli` instead of hacking `rm`. – lgeorget Apr 30 '13 at 17:47
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    Using `$*` in a shell script is almost always wrong - it fails, it the filename contains whitespace or shell globbing characters. Use `"$@"` instead. – Uwe Apr 30 '13 at 18:06
  • oops, yes you're right. gonna edit that right now – lgeorget Apr 30 '13 at 19:49
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    Why do you suggest shadow-aliasing `rm` when you know it is not recommended? You should change your answer, and not put that in a comment (since it is important). I know **you** know it, but for the OP - @misteryes - check out [this](http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/66934/why-is-aliasing-over-standard-commands-not-recommended). – Emanuel Berg Apr 30 '13 at 22:25
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    I use "answer" to answer the question which is "How do I make `rm file` equal to `mv file ~/.trash`?" and "comment" to give additional information. Of course, this should not be done but from a technical point of view, it's possible and I show how. – lgeorget May 01 '13 at 00:04
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You'll want to use an alias. For example: alias rm 'mv \!* ~/.trash'

However, aliasing built-in commands can cause problems. So rather than aliasing rm, I'd call the alias del instead, that way your regular rm is still available to you.

nathangiesbrecht
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