UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

QUESTION #1:

I have this in my .bashrc file:

alias rm='rm -i'

Problem is, there are 3 files that I remove many times a day and would like this command to ignore these 3 files. In other words, prompt me on everything EXCEPT these 3 files.

Is this possible?

QUESTION #2:

Also in my .bashrc file is this:

alias ls='/usr/local/bin/ls --color'

My colors will not work if I have just 'ls --color'. My colors only work if referenced to /usr/local/bin/ls --color.

Can I modify the color scheme? So that it only affects me, not everyone else?

Q1. Some possiblities:

Q2. set your alias as follow:

Code:

alias ls='ls --color=auto'

Regards

Yes, it's possible. It's not exactly trivial to get right, because you could be passing in both files from the excluded set and other files at the same time. But let's just figure you usually delete only one file at a time.

Code:

rm () {
  local ask
  ask="-i"
  case $# in 1)
     case $1 in your|excluded|files) ask= ;; esac ;;
  esac
  /bin/rm $ask "$@"
}

This declares a function (instead of an alias) which assumes your regular rm is in /bin/rm -- if it's in /usr/bin/rm or elsewhere, you need to adapt the command. The variable ask is set to "-i" and then conditionally, if there is exactly one argument, and if that one argument is one of your three files (change the list to hold your exceptions) then set ask to the empty string. Then, unconditionally run the regular rm, with whatever value $ask has now, on the arguments.

The ls manual page mentions a variable LS_COLORS which you can set or modify in your own .bashrc. It won't affect anybody else; everybody have their own .bashrc. GNU file utilities has detailed documentation (for some version of GNU ls). It seems the regular documentation is what dircolors -p prints, and the manual doesn't explain it in too much detail.

Thanks for your response, but ....

Q1.
- change the permission of these files --> Our application creates these files on startup. Prior to restarting our application, these files must be deleted. Ideally, my request needs to go through our development team to modify the application start/stop --- but until then, I need to do it manually.
- preface the filename with a dot to make them hidden --> same as above
- use a script to remove the desired files --> agreed, this would work, but ...

I still want to know if it's possible to use rm -i (or an alternate rm option) to prompt on all files EXCEPT for 3 specific files (work log tmp).

Q2.
alias ls='ls --color=auto' --> maybe I should clarify: my colors do not work at all if I use ls --color OR ls --color=auto. My colors ONLY work if referenced to /usr/local/bin/ls --color.

So, my question remains: Can I modify the color scheme? So that it only affects me, not everyone else?

set up an alias within your profile so that it does not have the options you do not want

alias rm2='rm <options>'

everytime you want to remove a file with the specified options... just run rm2.

Create a wrapper script which removes the files, then starts the application.

Code:

#!/bin/sh
rm -f work log tmp
exec /path/to/application

Scroll back to my earlier reply regarding the possibility to modify rm to not prompt for these tree files.

Earlier you said the ls alias pointed specifically to /usr/local/bin/ls. If it doesn't then it's likely that another version of ls is in your PATH before /usr/local/bin/ls -- one which doesn't understand, or ignores the --color option. (What does "which ls" or "type -all ls" print for you?). If so, just put in the entire path /usr/local/bin/ls in the alias.

Sorry -- I did not see the response from era -- i must have been posting at the same time ... I will review and respond shortly.