Re: dired mode recursive delete

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

Kevin Rodgers <kevin.d.rodgers@gmail.com> writes:

> David Kastrup wrote:
>> Kevin Rodgers <kevin.d.rodgers@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> Richard Stallman wrote:
>>>>     Setting it to t instead will not cause _any_ action without asking for
>>>>     individual confirmation for every non-empty directory.  It seems like
>>>>     quite a safe setting (whereas the original setting is not helpful in
>>>>     any situation I can think of).
>>>>
>>>>     My personal setting is 'top which is certainly more convenient than t
>>>>     but might be considered too drastic as a default setting by some.
>>>>
>>>> I think that `top' would be an ok default.
>>>> Let's change the default in the trunk.
>>> I'm uneasy about `top' vs. t as the default: when I'm prompted
>>> "Recursive delete of SUBDIR? ", I expect that if I answer "yes"
>>> that I'll be prompted for SUBDIR's subdirectories as well.
>>
>> That is not taking issue with the default but rather with the prompt.
>> What kind of prompt would make you expect the right thing?
>
> Recursive delete of SUBDIR (unconditionally)?
> Recursive delete of SUBDIR (without confirmation)?

How about like

Completely delete SUBDIR?

I think it would be clear enough that this would ask no further
(=recursive) questions and include subdirectories.  It has the
advantage of being less verbose, leaving more space for the directory
name.

-- 
David Kastrup