Soft-Delete Files from the Terminal on Linux

When working with files in the terminal on Linux, there may be times when you want to delete a file but also keep a copy of it just in case. This is where the concept of "soft delete" comes into play. A soft delete allows you to move a file to a designated recycle bin or trash, instead of permanently deleting it. That way, if you accidentally delete a file, you can easily get it back.

In this article, we will explore how to delete files from the terminal on Linux using the trash-cli utility and its trash-put command. We will also discuss how to recover deleted files, list files in trash, and empty the trash.

Installing trash-cli

Before using soft delete functionality, you need to install the trash-cli package. On most Linux distributions, you can install it using the package manager

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install trash-cli

# CentOS/RHEL/Fedora
sudo dnf install trash-cli

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S trash-cli

Commands for Soft Deletion of Files

The trash-put command is used to move a file to the trash. The basic syntax is as follows

trash-put [file]

For example, to soft-delete a file named "example.txt", the command would be

trash-put example.txt

You can also use wildcards to delete multiple files at once. For example, to delete all files with the ".txt" extension, the command would be

trash-put *.txt

Listing Trash Contents

To list the contents of the trash, you can use the trash-list command. This command displays the files and directories in the trash, along with their original path, date deleted, and size

trash-list

Example output

/home/user/example.txt    2022-01-27 14:21:11    597
/home/user/example2.txt   2022-01-28 14:00:00    9192

Recovering Deleted Files

To recover a soft-deleted file, you can use the trash-restore command. When run without arguments, it presents an interactive menu

trash-restore

This will show a numbered list of deleted files, and you can select which ones to restore. You can also specify a file pattern

trash-restore example.txt

Emptying the Trash

To empty the trash, use the trash-empty command. This permanently deletes all files in the trash, so use it with caution

trash-empty

You can also specify a number of days to empty files older than that period. For example, to empty all files that have been in the trash for more than 30 days

trash-empty 30

Permanently Deleting from Trash

If you want to permanently delete specific files from the trash without emptying everything, you can use the trash-rm command

trash-rm example.txt

You can also use wildcards to delete multiple files at once

trash-rm *.txt

Warning: Be careful when using this command, as it permanently deletes the specified files and they cannot be restored.

Customizing Trash Location

By default, the trash is located at $HOME/.local/share/Trash, but you can customize this location by setting environment variables

export XDG_DATA_HOME=/custom/path/data
export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/custom/path/config

The trash will then be located at $XDG_DATA_HOME/Trash. You can add these exports to your shell profile (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc) to make them permanent.

Comparison with Standard rm Command

Conclusion

The trash-cli utility provides a safer alternative to the standard rm command by implementing soft delete functionality on Linux. It allows for easy recovery of accidentally deleted files through trash-put, trash-list, and trash-restore commands. Always exercise caution when using trash-empty or trash-rm, as these operations are irreversible.