(emacs)Dired Deletion


Deleting Files with Dired
=========================

   One of the most frequent uses of Dired is to first "flag" files for
deletion, then delete the files that were flagged.

`d'
     Flag this file for deletion.

`u'
     Remove deletion flag on this line.

`<DEL>'
     Move point to previous line and remove the deletion flag on that
     line.

`x'
     Delete the files that are flagged for deletion.

   You can flag a file for deletion by moving to the line describing the
file and typing `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion').  The deletion flag is
visible as a `D' at the beginning of the line.  This command moves
point to the next line, so that repeated `d' commands flag successive
files.  A numeric argument serves as a repeat count.

   The variable `dired-recursive-deletes' controls whether the delete
command will delete non-empty directories (including their contents).
The default is to delete only empty directories.

   The files are flagged for deletion rather than deleted immediately to
reduce the danger of deleting a file accidentally.  Until you direct
Dired to delete the flagged files, you can remove deletion flags using
the commands `u' and <DEL>.  `u' (`dired-unmark') works just like `d',
but removes flags rather than making flags.  <DEL>
(`dired-unmark-backward') moves upward, removing flags; it is like `u'
with argument -1.

   To delete the flagged files, type `x' (`dired-do-flagged-delete').
(This is also known as "expunging".)  This command first displays a
list of all the file names flagged for deletion, and requests
confirmation with `yes'.  If you confirm, Dired deletes the flagged
files, then deletes their lines from the text of the Dired buffer.  The
shortened Dired buffer remains selected.

   If you answer `no' or quit with `C-g' when asked to confirm, you
return immediately to Dired, with the deletion flags still present in
the buffer, and no files actually deleted.

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