why below statement do not ask for confirmation while using option i or I for rm ?
// pass aggregated
find . -name $name -type d -exec rm -irf {} \;
// pass each
find . -name $name -type d -exec rm -irf {} +
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1 Answer
The -i option asks for confirmation but the -f option which follows in your command overrides it, turning off the confirmation dialog.
Observe:
$ rm -fri file1
rm: remove regular empty file 'file1'? n
$ rm -irf file1
$
If the first form above, -f appears first and -i latter. Consequently, -i overrides -f and rm asks for confirmation.
In the second form above, -i appears first and -f latter. In this case, -f overrides and no confirmation dialog appears.
Documentation
From man rm:
-f, --force
ignore nonexistent files and arguments, never prompt-i
prompt before every removal-I
prompt once before removing more than three files, or when removing recursively; less intrusive than -i, while still giving protection against most mistakes
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and what would be the best way (match) to protect from harmful delete using -I or -i and + or \; ?– ceph3usNov 21, 2017 at 23:18
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@ceph3us Yes, omit the
-f. The option-iprovides more protection than-I. If you are using-i, thenfind ...\;andfind ...+are both equally safe with the later being more computationally efficient.– John1024Nov 21, 2017 at 23:27