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.\"
.\" Copyright 1989 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  All
.\" rights reserved.  The file /usr/include/mit-copyright.h specifies
.\" the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\"
.\"
.TH DELETE 1 "January 26, 1988" "MIT Project Athena"
.ds ]W MIT Project Athena
.SH NAME
delete \- a recoverable file-deletion utility
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B delete
[
.B \-r
] [
.B \-i
] [
.B \-f
] [
.B \-n
] [
.B \-v
] [
.B \-e
] [
.B \-F
] [
.B \-D
] [
.B \-\|\-
] filename ...
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Delete
marks files and directories for later permanent removal (by renaming
them with a prefix of \fI.#\fR).  Files accidentally marked for deletion
can be recovered using
.I undelete(1).
Marked files are periodically
removed automatically by the system; they can also be removed on demand
(see \fIpurge\fR(1) and \fIexpunge\fR(1) for details).
Users can list files which have been marked for
removal but have not yet been removed using \fIlsdel\fR(1).
.PP
If the user does not have write permission to a file, its permissions
are printed and the user is asked whether the file should be removed.
If the first character of the response line is \fIy\fR the file is
removed, otherwise it remains.
.PP
Users wishing to retain the user interface of \fIrm\fR(1)
and \fIrmdir\fR(1)
while still being able to recover accidentally removed files can do so
by aliasing
.I rm
to
.I delete \-F \-e
and
.I rmdir
to
.I delete \-D \-e
(see below).
.SH OPTIONS
.I Delete
accepts the following command-line options:
.TP
.B \-r
If a designated filename is a non-empty directory,
.I delete
will signal an error unless the
.B \-r
option is specified.  In that case,
.I delete
recursively deletes the directory's entire contents and the directory
itself.  If the
.B \-F
option is specified (see below),
.I delete
will signal an error even if the directory is empty.
.TP
.B \-i
Causes
.I delete
to ask whether to delete each file, and, in recursive
mode, whether to examine each directory.
.TP
.B \-f
Prevents
.I delete
from asking any questions and from reporting any errors.
.TP
.B \-n
No file removals are performed.  Instead,
.I delete
prints to the standard output the files that it would remove were the
.B \-n
option not specified.
.TP
.B \-v
Causes
.I delete
to report each file as it is deleted.
.TP
.B \-e
Causes
.I delete
to emulate \fIrm\fR(1) and \fIrmdir\fR(1) as much as it can (i.e.
error and status messages and other peculiarities of \fIrm\fR(1) and
\fIrmdir\fI(1)).
.TP
.B \-F
Causes
.I delete
to emulate
.I rm
by preventing it from removing even empty directories when the
.B \-r
option is not specified.
.TP
.B \-D
Causes
.I delete
to emulate
.I rmdir
by preventing it from removing anything but empty directories.
.TP
.B \-\|\-
Two dashes indicate that all the arguments following it are to be treated as
file names, even if they start with a dash.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
undelete(1), purge(1), expunge(1), lsdel(1), rm(1), rmdir(1)
.SH BUGS
.I Delete
may change the access and modification times on a file when it is
deleted.  This is necessary in order to guarantee that
.I expunge
will work correctly in
.I AFS
filesystems.  You might say that this is a bug in
.IR AFS ,
rather than a bug in
.IR delete .
.SH AUTHOR
Jonathan I. Kamens (MIT-Project Athena)
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1989 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
.PP
All rights reserved.
.PP
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
supporting documentation, and that the name of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) not be used in advertising or publicity
pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written
prior permission.
.PP
M.I.T. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING
ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL
M.I.T. BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR
ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION,
ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS
SOFTWARE.