Re: Big mistaking extracting files, how to "undo" it?

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Matthew Saltzman wrote:
On Sun, 30 Jan 2005, James McKenzie wrote:

Matthew Saltzman wrote:

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005, Leandro Melo wrote:


"rm /usr/*" will delete only files in the directory /usr. Directories will remain intact. To recursively delete directories and their contents, use "rm -r <path>". If you are getting prompts for every file, use "\rm /usr/*". Read "man rm" carefully.

FYI, here's the contents of my /usr/ dir:

$ ls /usr
bin  etc    include  kerberos  libexec  lost+found  share  tmp
doc  games  java     lib       local    sbin        src    X11R6

If you were do delete the /usr directory, you will end up reinstalling Linux.


Why? There are usually no regular files in /usr (and the OP knew he had none). "rm *" removes only regular files in the current directory. It doesn't delete or descend directories. Deleting directories requires "rm -r". (Sure, you do have to be careful, but if you don't do it wrong, you won't be screwed.)

I've been the victim of a rm -rf * gone wrong.

I would be very careful when using the rm command in any directory which is required by the operating system.

However, you are right, rm * should only remove the files put there by the misuse of the unzip program.

I would definitely backup the subdirectories in the /usr directory before running the rm command, just in case something goes wrong.

--
James McKenzie


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