Restoring a file

chopperdday · 11-11-2010, 11:24 AM

Hey,

I've written a vary basic script that moves a specified file into the dustbin directory. The script is as follows:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
#move items to dustbin directory
mv "$@" ~/dustbin/
echo "File moved to dustbin"

This works fine for me, any file I specify gets moved to the dustbin directory. However, what I would like to do is create a new script that will move the file in the dustbin directory back to its original directory. I know I could easily write a script that would move it back to a location specified by the user, but I would prefer to have one that would move it to its original directory.

Is this possible?

I'm using Mac OS X 10.6.4 and Terminal

udaman · 11-11-2010, 11:32 AM

Yes it's possible, but you kinda have to cheat a little. I'd write a tracer file, or marker file, that holds the name of the old directory. And then read in that file into your new script, so you know where it came from. I don't know any other method of keeping track, and it's not the best programming method.

Code:

echo "old dir here" > .tracer

Matir · 11-11-2010, 02:27 PM

As udaman suggested, you can use some file to store the old path. For example:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
foreach item in "$@" ; do
    if [ "${item:0:1}" == "/" ] ; then
        OLDNAME="$item"
    else
        OLDNAME="`pwd`/$item"
    fi
    BASENAME=`basename $item`
    echo $OLDNAME > ~/dustbin/.dustbin.$BASENAME
    mv "$item" ~/dustbin/$BASENAME
done

I haven't tested that, but it should give you some idea where to start.

Tinkster · 11-15-2010, 02:25 AM

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <Programming> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

phil.d.g · 11-15-2010, 11:01 AM

Your solution does not take into account files with the same name, or files with the same name and path but created/deleted at different times.

Off the top of my head I would create random file names (with mktemp) and rename the file to the renamed file under the trash directory. I would then use an index file to store the deleted file name and path against a deleted time stamp and the random name.

Obviously that makes recovery a little more difficult. You would tool needs to give you a list of file names and time stamps, and then ultimately recover a specific version of the file.