Safe rm - moves deleted files to a dumping ground

safe_rm.sh

# Some important aliases
SAFE_RM_DIR=${SAFE_RM_DIR:="$HOME/.safe_rm"}
REAL_RM=${REAL_RM:="/bin/rm"}

# Override rm, because it's always painful to recover
# files deleted by rm, if possible at all. Instead,
# simply move it to the $SAFE_RM_DIR for later cleaning.
rm()
{
    force=false
    recursive=false
    other=false
    help=false
    
    # Process arguments.
    len=0
    for arg in "$@"
    do
	if [[ "$arg" == -* ]]; then
	    # Obtain the options portion of this arg. Compare
	    # with all possible options for the rm command. This
	    # means files with the same name as these options with
	    # a dash character at the front won't be successfully removed.
	    opt=${arg:1}
	    if [[ "$opt" =~ ^(f|-force)$ ]]; then
		# If it's tryping to force remove, set the force flag.
		force=true
	    elif [[ "$opt" =~ ^(r|R|-recursive)$ ]]; then
		# If it's trying to recursively remove, set the recursive flag
		recursive=true
	    elif [[ "$opt" =~ ^(i|I|-interactive|-one-file-system|-no-preserve-root|-preserve-root|d|-dir|v|-verbose|-version)$ ]]; then
		other=true
	    elif [[ "$opt" =~ ^(h|-help)$ ]]; then
		help=true
	    else
		# Not recognized as rm option. Exit.
		echo -e "${LRED}Error: Unrecognized option '${arg}'${NC}"
		return 1
	    fi
	else
	    # Normal file
	    files[$len]="${arg}"
	    ((len++))
	fi
    done

    # If help is set, ignore all other arguments and print help message.
    if [ "$help" = true ]; then
	echo -e "${BOLD}rm: Safe rm command.${NORMAL}"
	echo -e "   Instead of calling ${REAL_RM}, will instead move the deleted files to ${SAFE_RM_DIR}."
	echo -e "   If ${SAFE_RM_DIR} does not exist, it will be created. ${BOLD}Use '-r' to remove directories.${NORMAL}\n"
	echo -e "   The original 'rm' is at ${REAL_RM}.\n"
	return 0
    fi

    # If force is set, exit.
    if [ "$force" = true ]; then
	echo -e "${LRED}Error: Custom rm! ${LGRAY}Use '${REAL_RM} -f' to force delete files.${NC}"
	return 1
    fi
        
    # If other options, exit, print warning
    if [ "$other" = true ]; then
	echo -e "${LRED}Error Custom rm! ${LGRAY}Try '${REAL_RM} $@' instead?${NC}"
	return 1
    fi

    # Check if ${SAFE_RM_DIR} exists. If not, create one.
    mkdir -p "${SAFE_RM_DIR}"
    for ((j=0;j<len;j++))
    do
	# (For self-awareness): Check if any of the file is a directory. If so, recursive flag must be on.
	if [[ -d "${files[$j]}" ]] && [ "$recursive" = false ]; then
	    echo -e "${LRED}Error: ${files[$j]} is a directory. ${LGRAY}Nothing is removed.${NC}"
	    return 1
	fi
    done

    for ((j=0;j<len;j++))
    do
	mv "${files[$j]}" "${SAFE_RM_DIR}" 
    done
    return 0
}

# Yet, if someone really wants to remove, he should use
# the new alias for `rm` command. Still, enforce interative
# by default. One can definitely use 'yes' command to skip it.
alias rrm='${REAL_RM} -I -v'