Shell Programming and Scripting

  moveFile(){
                  #check if file/directory exists
                  if [ $(doesFileOrDirectoryExist $1) == "true" ]
                  then
                                  filesToRemove=$(ls $1)
                                  #if there's too many files/directories then send them to the moveFiles functions
                                  if [ ${#filesToRemove[*]} -gt 1 ]
                                  then
                                                  moveFiles $filesToRemove                          
                                  else
   
                                                  #Directory handling
                                                  if [ $(isDirectory $1) == "true" ]
                                                  then
                                                                  #R Flag - check if for the selected directory, the rR flag is in place
                                                                  if [ $optionRFlag == "false" ]
                                                                  then
                                                                                  echo "rm: cannot remove \`$1': Is a directory"    
                                                                  else
                                                                                  descend=true
                                                                                  #I Flag - check if for the selected directory, the I flag is in place and prompt the user
                                                                                  if [ $optionIFlag == "true" ] && [ $(isDirectoryEmpty $1) == "false" ]
                                                                                  then
                                                                                                  read -p "rm: descend into directory \`$1'?" descendDir
                                                                                                  case $descendDir in
                                                                                                  y* | Y*)
                                                                                                                  descend="true" ;;
                                                                                                  *)
                                                                                                                  descend="false" ;;
                                                                                                  esac
                                                                                  
                                                                                  fi             
                                                                                  if [ $descend == "true" ]
                                                                                  then
                                                                                                  #list everything in your descend directory but give the whole path.  
                                                                                                  #sed - preceed each item with the present working directory
                                                                                                  subfiles=$(ls $1 | sed "s;^;`pwd`/$1/;")
                                                                                                  
                                                                                                  moveFiles $subfiles
                                                                                                  #Move the empty directory
                                                                                                  if [ $(isDirectoryEmpty $1) == "true" ]
                                                                                                  then      
                                                                                                                  delete=true
                                                                                                                  if [ $optionIFlag == "true" ] 
                                                                                                                  then
                                                                                                                                  read -p "rm: remove directory \`$1'?" deleteDir
                                                                                                                                  case $deleteDir in                            
                                                                                                                                  y* | Y*) 
                                                                                                                                                   delete="true" ;;
                                                                                                                                  *)
                                                                                                                                                  delete="false" ;;
                                                                                                                                  esac
                                                                                                                  fi
                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                  if [ $delete == "true" ]
                                                                                                                  then      
                                                                                                                                  mv $1 $recycleDirectory
                                                                                                                                  #V Flag - for the current directory/item, check if the v flag is active if so add informative text
                                                                                                                                  if [ $optionVFlag == "true" ]
                                                                                                                                  then
                                                                                                                                                  echo "removed directory: \`$1'"
                                                                                                                                  fi
                                                                                                                  fi
                                                                                                  fi
                                                                                  fi
                                                                  fi
                                                  else
                                                                  #File handling
                                                                  agreed=true
                                                                  if [ $optionIFlag == "true" ]
                                                                  then
                                                                                  read -p "$(getInteractiveMessage $1)" userAccepts
                                                                                  case $userAccepts in
                                                                                  y* | Y*)
                                                                                                  agreed="true" ;;
                                                                                  *)
                                                                                                  agreed="false" ;;
                                                                                  esac
                                                                  fi
                                                                  #refer to above i flag
                                                                  if [ $agreed == "true" ]
                                                                  then      
                                                                  
                                                                                  mv $1 $recycleDirectory
                                                                                  if [ $optionVFlag == "true" ]
                                                                                  then
                                                                                                  echo "removed \`$1'"
                                                                                  fi
                                                                  fi
                                                  fi
                                  fi
                  else
                                  
                                  echo "rm: cannot remove \`$1': No such file or directory"
                  fi
  }

$ ls -R testfolder
fileb	test1

testfolder/test1:
filea
$ rm -r testfolder/*
$ ls -R testfolder
$

subfiles=$(ls $1 | sed "s;^;`pwd`/$1/;")