using rm -rf in the scripts [duplicate]

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

sometimes using rm -rf in script could be catastrophic

example

rm -rf $TMP/$folder

when TMP and $folder are without any value , it will actually

removing all under "/"

so I am asking how to use the rm -rf in the scripts so it will be safe?

manpreet 2 years ago

1. Check if $TMP and $TMP/$folder are directories
2. Check that the canonical paths of $TMP and $TMP/$folder are different (imagine folder="" or folder="/")
3. Check if $TMP/$folder is writable

if [ -d "$TMP" ]\
 && [ -d "$TMP/$folder" ]\
 && [ "$(readlink -e "$TMP")" != "$(readlink -e "$TMP/$folder")" ]\
 && [ -w "$TMP/$folder" ]; then
    rm -rf "$TMP/$folder"
else
    echo "Could not delete folder \"$TMP/$folder\", TMP=$TMP, folder=$folder" >&2
fi