> I'm not sure how to practically improve things. > Perhaps we could have a --interactive=always-skippable > where you could type 'a' to accept all future removals, > though I'm not sure that helps much either TBH.
Yes! That would be great too. My default `rm` aliases to `rm='rm -i '`, having this option would be extremely useful to me. https://github.com/JoaquimEsteves/dotfiles/blob/master/.bash_aliases#L10 This would allow a user to 'peek' into the files they are about to delete, cancelling in case there's a mistake. > Is this usefully giving more info though? > ... > The fact you're removing 22 files should be a huge warning. This might be particular to my use-case, but I'm oftentimes deleting directories like `node_modules/`, `.venv/` or a `.make_cache/` that feature hundreds/thousands of files. I think that it's ok for an explicit `verbose` mode to be, well, verbose. If we wanted to get fancy, I could see some optional number being passed as the maximum number of lines printed. Something like: ``` $ rm --interactive=once-verbose-3 .* rm: Would remove 22 arguments regular file '.foo' regular file '.bar' regular file '.bashrc' ... and 19 others proceed? ``` Kind regards, Joaquim Esteves From: Pádraig Brady <[email protected]> on behalf of Pádraig Brady <[email protected]> Date: Friday, 24 July 2026 at 17:34 To: Joaquim ESTEVES <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Feature Request: rm --interactive=once-verbose [You don't often get email from [email protected]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ] On 24/07/2026 15:10, Joaquim ESTEVES via GNU coreutils General Discussion wrote: > Hello, > > I'd like to request an extra option for the '--interactive' command for rm. > Like many users I have an alias for 'rm' that adds the '-i' flag that should > prohibit me from accidentally deleting important files. The issue is that that > flag is too picky, while the '-I' flag is not informative enough. > > Recently I accidentally deleted a lot of files from my home-directory, and I > believe that a more verbose interactive flag, something in between '-I' and > '-I' would be helpful. > > Something like: > > ``` > $ rm --interactive=once-verbose .* > rm: remove the following files? > regular file 'foo' > regular file 'bar' > regular file '.bashrc' > ...etc > proceed? > ``` Is this usefully giving more info though? There is little point in presenting a huge list of files to users as that is not practical to parse by someone. Also if we presented a truncated list, then we might miss presenting an important file. > > If we compare this to the existing '-I' flag, all I would have known about the > files I'm about to delete are how many there are. > > ``` > $ rm --interactive=once .* > rm: remove 22 arguments? > $ # OOPS, deleted an important '.bashrc' file > ``` The fact you're removing 22 files should be a huge warning. I'm not sure how to practically improve things. Perhaps we could have a --interactive=always-skippable where you could type 'a' to accept all future removals, though I'm not sure that helps much either TBH. cheers, Padraig
