trash

move files to recoverable FreeDesktop.org trash

TLDR

Send a file to the trash

$ trash [path/to/file]

List all files in the trash

$ trash-list

Interactively restore a file from the trash

$ trash-restore

Empty the trash

$ trash-empty

Permanently delete files older than 10 days

$ trash-empty 10

Remove files matching a pattern from trash

$ trash-rm "*.o"

Remove files with a specific original location

$ trash-rm /[path/to/file_or_directory]

SYNOPSIS

trash [options] file...trash-listtrash-restoretrash-empty [days]trash-rm pattern

trash-cli is a command-line interface to the FreeDesktop.org Trash specification, providing a safer alternative to rm by moving files to a recoverable trash location instead of permanent deletion. The trash follows XDG standards and integrates with desktop file managers.Files can be restored to their original location using trash-restore, which presents an interactive menu of trashed items. The trash-empty command permanently deletes items from the trash, with optional age filtering.

PARAMETERS

trash files

Move files to trash (alias: trash-put)

trash-list

List files in trash with original path and deletion date

trash-restore

Interactively restore files from trash

trash-empty [days]

Empty trash, optionally only files older than days

trash-rm pattern

Remove files from trash matching pattern or original path

-d, --directory

Remove empty directories

-f, --force

Ignore nonexistent files

-v, --verbose

Explain what is being done

--trash-dir dir

Use specified trash directory instead of the default.

--version

Show the program's version number and exit.

INSTALL

sudo dnf install trash-cli

sudo pacman -S trash-cli

sudo apk add trash-cli

sudo zypper install trash-cli

brew install trash-cli

nix profile install nixpkgs#trash-cli

CAVEATS

Trashing files on external drives creates a .Trash directory on that drive. Disk space is not freed until trash is emptied. Files trashed from command line may not appear in desktop trash depending on file manager implementation.

HISTORY

Developed by Andrea Francia as a command-line implementation of the FreeDesktop.org Trash specification. Provides Unix philosophy-compliant access to desktop trash functionality, enabling safe deletion practices in terminal workflows.