Big mistaking extracting files, how to "undo" it?
James McKenzie
jjmckenzie51 at earthlink.net
Sun Jan 30 22:45:15 UTC 2005
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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