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Full Discussion: How to prevent Accidents 'rm -rf *'?
Top Forums UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users How to prevent Accidents 'rm -rf *'? Post 302904223 by Don Cragun on Tuesday 3rd of June 2014 02:29:08 AM
Old 06-03-2014
Let me see if I understand what you're doing. You have a script that is given an operand that is the name of the directory to be removed. You expect it to be invoked with something like:
Code:
removeall drectory

and you have written removeall to be:
Code:
#!/bin/YourShellName
rm -rf "$1"/*

And, if the person who invokes removeall forgets to give an operand, bad things happen.

So, why did your script add /*??? If the script had been:
Code:
#!/bin/YourShellName
rm -rf "$1"

you would get the same results when a directory operand is given, but you wouldn't have a problem when no operand is given (rm would just print a diagnostic saying no operands were given or an empty string is not a valid pathname).

Or your script could actually check for missing or "invalid" operands:
Code:
#!/bin/YourShellName
IAm=${0##*/}
if [ $# -ne 1 ] || [ ! -d "$1" ]
then    printf "Usage: %s directory\n" "$IAm" >&2
        exit 1
fi
rm -rf "$1"

UNIX utilities are there to help you get a job done. If you use them correctly, they can do wonderful things for you. If you tell them to do stupid things, you'll get what you asked for.
 

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LEARN ABOUT SUSE

irsend

IRSEND(1)								FSF								 IRSEND(1)

NAME

       irsend - basic LIRC program to send infra-red commands

SYNOPSIS

       irsend [options] DIRECTIVE REMOTE CODE [CODE...]

DESCRIPTION

       Asks the lircd daemon to send one or more CIR (Consumer Infra-Red) commands. This is intended for remote control of electronic devices such
       as TV boxes, HiFi sets, etc.

       DIRECTIVE can be:
	  SEND_ONCE	    - send CODE [CODE ...] once
	  SEND_START	    - start repeating CODE
	  SEND_STOP	    - stop repeating CODE
	  LIST		    - list configured remote items
	  SET_TRANSMITTERS  - set transmitters NUM [NUM ...]
	  SIMULATE	    - simulate IR event

       REMOTE is the name of a remote, as described in the lircd configuration file.

       CODE is the name of a remote control key of REMOTE, as it appears in the lircd configuration file.

       NUM is the transmitter number of the hardware device.

       For the LIST DIRECTIVE, REMOTE and/or CODE can be empty:

	  LIST	 ""    ""   - list all configured remote names
	  LIST REMOTE  ""   - list all codes of REMOTE
	  LIST REMOTE CODE  - list only CODE of REMOTE

       The SIMULATE command only works if it has been explicitly enabled in lircd.

       -h --help
	      display usage summary

       -v --version
	      display version

       -d --device
	      use given lircd socket [/var/run/lirc/lircd]

       -a --address=host[:port]
	      connect to lircd at this address

       -# --count=n
	      send command n times

EXAMPLES

	  irsend LIST DenonTuner ""
	  irsend SEND_ONCE  DenonTuner PROG-SCAN
	  irsend SEND_ONCE  OnkyoAmpli VOL-UP VOL-UP VOL-UP VOL-UP
	  irsend SEND_START OnkyoAmpli VOL-DOWN ; sleep 3
	  irsend SEND_STOP  OnkyoAmpli VOL-DOWN
	  irsend SET_TRANSMITTERS 1
	  irsend SET_TRANSMITTERS 1 3 4
	  irsend SIMULATE "0000000000000476 00 OK TECHNISAT_ST3004S"

FILES

       /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
	      Default lircd configuration file.  It should contain all the remotes, their infra-red codes and the corresponding timing	and  wave-
	      form details.

DIAGNOSTICS

       If lircd is not running (or /var/run/lirc/lircd lacks write permissions) irsend aborts with the following diagnostics:
       "irsend: could not connect to socket"
       "irsend: Connection refused" (or "Permission denied").

SEE ALSO

       The documentation for lirc is maintained as html pages. They are located under html/ in the documentation directory.

       lircd(8), mode2(1), smode2(1), xmode2(1), irrecord(1), irw(1), http://www.lirc.org.

irsend 0.8.7pre1						     May 2010								 IRSEND(1)
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