16

Say I wanted to make sure I'm removing the right files first, so I did something like:

rm -i *

just to make sure that I'm okay with the files that I am removing. So this will ask me for each file. After a few files, suppose I realize it's exactly what I wanted to remove. Instead of CTRL+Cing and just doing rm *, is there a way I can just say Yes to all?

This question comes more so from curiosity rather than functionality.

1
  • Strange question, but anyway, let's be creative in our answers!
    – dolmen
    Mar 26, 2011 at 20:45

7 Answers 7

8

No.

(Unless you find a way to flip the 'interactive' bit with a debugger.)

6
  • [citation needed] :-)
    – Daniel Beck
    Mar 26, 2011 at 20:26
  • 6
    @Daniel: coreutils/src/remove.c:335coreutils/lib/yesno.c:46 (generated) → rpmatch(3): "returns 0 for a recognized negative response ("no"), 1 for a recognized positive response ("yes"), and -1 when the value of response is unrecognized" Mar 26, 2011 at 20:40
  • Very nice find!
    – Daniel Beck
    Mar 26, 2011 at 20:45
  • 3
    Also, you can just paste large number of y[line break] to terminal, which is not "Yes to all", but same thing happens.
    – Olli
    Mar 26, 2011 at 21:22
  • haha true for the 'y[linebreak]' thing, i like it! :)
    – Amit
    Mar 31, 2011 at 3:53
13

Is there a way I can just say Yes to all?

The answer is yes, using this code:

$ yes "yes" | rm -vRI directory

  • v: show the list of files that have been removed
  • R: remove directories and their contents recursively
  • I: as per the recommendation above.
12

Well, this doesn't really answer your question. But instead of using rm -i, consider aliasing rm to rm -I:

The man page states:

-I     prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing 
       recursively. Less intrusive than -i, while still giving protection 
       against most mistakes

in your ~/.bashrc, put:

 alias rm='rm -I'

this is actually useful!

1
  • 1
    This isn't the accepted answer, but it is 100% correct (as opposed to the accepted answer which guesses it can't be done). If for some reason your OS doesn't support -I then the "yes command" answer is also correct. Jun 22, 2022 at 2:10
4

If you are running in screen (a good idea in general), you can do:

ctrl-a : exec .! yes y

This would cause screen to run the 'yes' command with y being the output, and direct said output to the running program (rm -i).

3

Just check first using ls *.bla and then rm -f *.bla maybe?

Use caution!

1
  • haha true this is a possibility
    – Amit
    Mar 31, 2011 at 3:51
2

This can be done by replacing the application file descriptors on the fly. You'll need an intermediate file though.

You can use gdb and a named pipe like this (assuming you are using more terminals, else you have to use screen or something else):

  • create a named pipe with "mkfifo myYesYesPipe"
  • start the interactive copy with rm -i and find its PID
  • open gdb

Then type the following commands in gdb, replacing the PID

attach rmPID
call open("/path/to/myYesYesPipe",66,0666)
call dup2(3,0)
call close(3)
detach
quit

This replaces the keyboard with a named pipe for rm.

Now you have to fill the named pipe

  • run yes > /path/to/myYesYesPipe

rm will read the pipe and overwrite everything.

1
  • @grawity. you inspired me to use the debugger. Mar 27, 2011 at 17:21
1
  1. Put the rm process in the background with Ctrl+Z.
  2. Recall the last command (the rm -i * command)
  3. Remove the -i
  4. Enter to run the command
  5. fg %1
  6. Ctrl+C
2
  • 3
    5s/fg/kill/; 6d Mar 26, 2011 at 20:55
  • 3
    How is this better than what the user explicitly mentioned he doesn't want to do?
    – Daniel Beck
    Mar 26, 2011 at 20:56

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