5 mo. ago • 85%

Can I remove a git repo without resorting to `rm -rf` ?

Git repos have lots of write protected files in the .git directory, sometimes hundreds, and the default rm my_project_managed_by_git will prompt before deleting each write protected file. So, to actually delete my project I have to do rm -rf my_project_managed_by_git.

Using rm -rf scares me. Is there a reasonable way to delete git repos without it?

45 comments

Using rm -rf scares me. Is there a reasonable way to delete git repos without it?

I don't know what to tell you, that's the command you need to use.

If you're that worried you're going to nuke important stuff, make backups, and don't use sudo for user files.

91
So.... you're afraid of the command that does the thing you're trying to do?

53
- More like, I'm afraid of the command doing more than I'm trying to do.
  
  What I want to do is ignore prompts about write-protected files in the .git directory, what it does is ignore all prompts for all files.
  
  11
  
  You just need to do this then
  
  cd git-project rm -rf .git cd .. rm -r git-project
  
  With rm -r is for (R)ecursion and -f is for F(force) disabled the prompting. So, use -f on the .git directory which has the files you want to obliterate, and leave it off for the safety prompts.
  
  30
  
  so why not rm -rf folder/.git/* then rm -r folder/*
  
  12
  
  What about adding the flags last?
  
  rm deletethisrepo -rf
  
  1
I’ve shot myself in the foot enough times over the years with rm -rf. Now I use trash-cli. I don’t know what package manager(s) you use, but I install it via Homebrew.

35
chmod -R the directory first?

19
- This, lol just remove write protection if -f is too spooky
  
  6
Maybe use a graphical file manager?

Or move the folder to /tmp or so.

16
- Or a tui file manager like ncdu
  
  3
- That's a good suggestion for some, but I'm quite comfortable with the command line.
  
  It's not that I'm irrationally scared of rm -rf. I know what that command will do. If I slow down an pay attention it's not as though I'm worried "I hope this doesn't break my system".
  
  What I really mean is I see myself becoming quite comfortable typing rm -rf and running it with little thought, I use it often to delete git repos, and my frequent use and level of comfort with this command doesn't match the level of danger it brings.
  
  Just moving them to /tmp is a nice suggestion that can work on anywhere without special programs or scripts.
  
  -10
  
  You don't sound like you're comfortable with the command line.
  
  32
  
  If you're making backups of things you care about and not running sudo rm -rf the command isn't really dangerous.
  
  But +1 for having it in /tmp I have a bash function I call tempd that is basically cd $(mktemp -d) I use it so much for stuff I dont really care to keep.
  
  6
A tip I saw some time ago is to do:

rm folder -rf

Additionally you could move the git folder to the trash folder. I think it's usually located at $HOME/.local/share/trash/files/

Then you can delete it from the trash once you're certain you got the right folder

12
- Additionally you could move the git folder to the trash folder. I think it's usually located at $HOME/.local/share/trash/files/
  
  Moving something to the trash files folder isn't the correct way to trash it, since the Trash specification requires storing some metadata for each trash item.
  
  You should use eg. trash-cli instead.
  
  16
  
  xdg-trash
  
  7
The problem is that rm -rf shouldn't scare you?

What are the chances something like

~/projects/some-project $ cd .. ~/projects $ rm -fr some-project

may delete unexpected stuff? (especially if you get into the habit of tab-completing the directory argument)
12
If you’re that worried, why not run chmod -R u+w .git inside the project dir to “un write-protect” the files, then just ascend to the directory containing the project dir (cd ..) and use rm -r without -f?

The force flag (-f) is the scary one, I presume?

9
Use rm -rf. If you are scared of mistakes, type echo rm -rf nameofdirectory, check it, go back, delete the echo and press enter.

9
chmod -R 777 my_project_managed_by_git && rm -r my_project_managed_by_git

8
Cd into the directory first, then run rm -rf, then cd back out and rm -r just the directory.

E:fb

6
If you’re nervous about rm, there’s many alternatives that work by moving a file to your recycling bin instead of deleting it outright. I think the current fun one is trash-rs, but some distros package trash-cli.

6
You should have backups. Preferably also snapshots. Then rm will feel less scary.

5
its a bit verbose but my preference is rm -r --interactive=never directoryname

i really try to avoid rf for myself

3
https://github.com/nivekuil/rip This is what you're looking for

3
You can use ls <PATH> first to check you are deleting the right files. I do this and I've never accidentally deleted the wrong files (using rm).

2
If you're scared to do rm -rf, do something else that lets you inspect the entire batch of deletions first. Such as:

find .git ! -type d -print0 | xargs -0 -n1 echo rm -fv

This will print out all the rm -fv commands that would be run. It's basically rm -rf --dry-run, but rm doesn't have that common option. Once you've verified that that's what you want to do, run it again without echo to do the actual deletion. If you're scared of having that in your history, either use a full path for .git, or prepend a space to the non-echo version of the command to make it avoid showing up in your shell history (assuming you have ignorespace in your HISTCONTROL env var)

I use this xargs echo pattern a lot when I'm crafting commands that are potentially destructive or change lots of things.

2
use relative paths (cd into the directory below your repository) and use tab completion, and you won't have problems.

2
honestly I don't think there is a better way, like others have said you can use a trash program or you can chmod the git directory before deleting but, I would recommend against the comments saying alias the command, that can lead to even bigger problems if you typo thr alias or mess up in the script. rf can't break anything unless you say the wrong directory which would be the same with aliases anyway,

My recommendation out of them all would be using a trash program to move it to the trash that way if you do screw up the location you have a way to restore it otherwise you could make a script to list the files affected using ls and then prompt a yes/no prompt using read before doing the rm script, but that's something you definitely want to test in a sandbox or user restricted environment if you're not used to scripting in case something breaks

1
OSX - mv my_project ~/.Trash

1
Permanently Deleted

-1
- Ah, yes, run a bash file executing rm -rf $1
  
  What could go wrong?
  
  10
  
  Sure. Solution removed.
  
  1
git rebase doesn't work?

-1
- That or an oil change
  
  1

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Can I remove a git repo without resorting to rm -rf ?

Can I remove a git repo without resorting to `rm -rf` ?