Trash Cli

Use trash-cli to safely delete files by moving them to the system trash instead of permanently removing them. This prevents accidental data loss and allows file recovery. Use instead of rm when you want recoverable deletion.

A command line interface to the freedesktop.org trashcan. It trashes files recording the original path, deletion date, and permissions. It uses the same trashcan used by KDE, GNOME, and XFCE.

Installation

bash

# Via Homebrew (Linux/macOS)
brew install trash-cli

# Via pip
pip install trash-cli

# Via apt (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo apt install trash-cli

# Via pacman (Arch Linux)
sudo pacman -S trash-cli

# Via dnf (Fedora)
sudo dnf install trash-cli

Commands Overview

Command	Description
trash-put	Move files/directories to trash
trash-list	List trashed files
trash-restore	Restore trashed files
trash-empty	Permanently delete trashed files
trash-rm	Remove specific files from trash

trash-put

Move files or directories to the trash can.

bash

trash-put <file>           # Trash a file
trash-put <dir>/           # Trash a directory
trash-put -f <file>        # Silently ignore nonexistent files
trash-put -v <file>        # Verbose output

Options

• -f, --force - Silently ignore nonexistent files
• -v, --verbose - Explain what is being done
• --trash-dir TRASHDIR - Use TRASHDIR as trash folder

Notes

• Unlike rm, trash-put does not require -R for directories
• Files trashed from home partition go to ~/.local/share/Trash/
• Files from other partitions go to $partition/.Trash/$uid or $partition/.Trash-$uid

trash-list

List all trashed files.

bash

trash-list                          # List all trashed files
trash-list | grep <pattern>         # Search for specific files
trash-list --all-users              # List trashcans of all users

Output Format

text

2008-06-01 10:30:48 /home/user/bar
2008-06-02 21:50:41 /home/user/baz

Format: deletion_date original_path

trash-restore

Restore trashed files to their original location.

bash

trash-restore                       # Interactive restore
trash-restore --overwrite          # Overwrite existing files
trash-restore --sort date          # Sort by date (default)
trash-restore --sort path          # Sort by path

Interactive Mode

text

$ trash-restore
0 2007-08-30 12:36:00 /home/andrea/foo
1 2007-08-30 12:39:41 /home/andrea/bar
2 2007-08-30 12:39:41 /home/andrea/baz
What file to restore [0..2]: 0

• Enter the number to restore that file
• Use 0-2,3 to restore multiple files
• Use --overwrite to replace existing files

trash-empty

Permanently remove files from trash.

bash

trash-empty                 # Remove ALL trashed files
trash-empty 7              # Remove files older than 7 days
trash-empty 1              # Remove files older than 1 day

Examples

bash

# Delete everything in trash
trash-empty

# Keep only files from the last 7 days
trash-empty 7

# Keep only today's files
trash-empty 1

trash-rm

Remove specific files from trash (by pattern).

bash

trash-rm <pattern>         # Remove files matching pattern
trash-rm '*.o'             # Remove all .o files
trash-rm foo               # Remove all files named "foo"
trash-rm /full/path        # Remove by original path

Note: Use quotes to protect pattern from shell expansion.

bash

trash-rm '*.log'          # Correct
trash-rm *.log            # Wrong - shell will expand

Safety Tips

Replace rm with trash-put

Add to .bashrc or .zshrc:

bash

# Remind yourself not to use rm directly
alias rm='echo "Use trash-put instead!"; false'

# Or use a safer alias
alias rm='trash-put'

To bypass the alias when you really need rm:

bash

\rm file.txt

Recovery Workflow

1. Check what's in trash: trash-list
2. Find your file: trash-list | grep <filename>
3. Restore: trash-restore

Trash Location

• Home partition: ~/.local/share/Trash/
• Other partitions: $mount_point/.Trash/$uid or $mount_point/.Trash-$uid

Limitations

• Does not support BRTFS volumes
• Cannot trash files from read-only filesystems

FAQ

Creating a top-level .Trash directory

If you need to create a trash directory on a different partition:

bash

sudo mkdir --parent /.Trash
sudo chmod a+rw /.Trash
sudo chmod +t /.Trash

Should I alias rm to trash-put?

The author advises against this. Although trash-put seems compatible with rm, it has different semantics that will cause problems. For example, while rm requires -R for deleting directories, trash-put does not.

Instead, use a warning alias:

bash

alias rm='echo "This is not the command you are looking for."; false'

To bypass when you really need rm:

bash

\rm file.txt

See Also

• Official GitHub
• FreeDesktop.org Trash Spec