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Aucbvax.4162 fa.unix-wizards utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!unix-wizards Fri Oct 2 00:49:16 1981 rm problem >From menlo70!hao!woods@Berkeley Fri Oct 2 00:44:13 1981 The systems guy here solved the 'rm' problem by creating a shell script 'del' and encouraging all non-hacker type users to use it instead of rm. (Being a scientific research facility, most of our users fall into that category). What 'del' does is a foreach f() and then prints , asks the user to type 'y' to remove, and if the response is 'y' then it does an rm -f . A response of 'q' terminates the command, and any other response simply moves on to the next file, leaving that file alone. This way we get the best of both worlds, for those who are very sure of themselves and want fast service can go ahead and use rm, while those who want to be protected from themselves can use del. I prefer rm, but sometimes when I am not sure what files my pattern will match, it's convenient to use 'del' just to be on the safe side. (For those familiar with VMS, note that this is exactly what DELETE/CONFIRM does)

GREG (ucbvax!menlo70!hao!woods)

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