Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!cmcl2!brl-adm!adm!MISS026%ECNCDC.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
From: MISS026%ECNCDC.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (GREENY)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: re: a solution to the RM insanity
Message-ID: <10767@brl-adm.ARPA>
Date: 10 Dec 87 18:12:15 GMT
Sender: news@brl-adm.ARPA
Lines: 30

I have been sitting back lately and reading many a message on how to
deal with the problems that RM * can cause, and it occured to me that
if one has a problem with not knowing how a command will react with
certainty (such as the use of RM $* over a network [where $ represents
an alphanumeric character of a group to files to kill (e.g. rm a*)])
then one SHOULD NOT MAKE USE OF SUCH A COMMAND.  It is much safer
to simply type the entire file name and make use of the rm -i option
to be certain that the system actually received what you typed.

As a rule I have always steered away from RM * or RM $* after one
bad experience with it.  Usually I will send myself a note (I use
the rs system for this purpose...) to remind myself to delete the
file.  Then at the end of the week I compile all of these filenames
and their ABSOLUTE pathname into a file, and have a shell script
remove each file for me.  If I perform this action over a network
then I make certain to use the rm -i command to counter against the
possibility of noise bursts on the line altering a filename.

In summary, I believe that there are a number of valid ways in
which to deal with the RM * problem, and my above solution is only
one of a multitude.  However, the number of messages on the supposed
'problem' is getting to be a little boring to read.  How about we
move onto something else? :-)

bye for now but not for long...
Greeny

Bitnet: Miss026@ecncdc
Internet: Miss026%ecncdc.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu  <- I think...this is new
Disclaimer: What? Who? Me? Nope...not me...you *MUST* have the wrong hacker!!