Re: asking for a better way to implement this

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

On Mon, 27 Sep 2010, Greg Wooledge wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 06:39:56PM +0200, Christopher Roy Bratusek wrote:
> > > It's a bad idea to alias rm. It would be better to use your xrm
> > > directly. If you alias rm and get in the habit of it protecting you,
> > > one of these days the alias won't be there and OOPS, gone!
> >
> > Well... I know what you mean, but I'm using GNU/Linux for seven years now, it's 
> > now
> > almost impossible to learn to use `xrm' instead of `rm'. Besides, it won't 
> > disappear
> > somewhen, it's hardcoded (and bound to other stuff, which I know whether it 
> > exists or
> > not).
>
> You might reinstall your OS one day, either due to hardware failure or
> simply upgrading.  Then you might forget to build the rm alias.
>
> Or you might get a job working on Unix systems.  The systems at work will
> not have your rm alias.
>
> Or you might be on a friend's computer....  You get the idea, I hope.

   Or you might put it in a script, expecting to be prompted, and lose
   files you need. Aliases are not expanded in a script.

--
   Chris F.A. Johnson, <http://cfajohnson.com>
   Author:
   Pro Bash Programming: Scripting the GNU/Linux Shell (2009, Apress)
   Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress)