rm protection and guards in bash

rm-guards-protection.sh

# Put this in your .bashrc
# Load it with source ~/.bashrc

rm() {
  local YES="false"
  local args=()

  local protected_dirs=(
    "/"
    "/Volumes"
    "/Applications"
    "/bin"
    "/cores"
    "/dev"
    "/etc"
    "/home"
    "/Library"
    "/opt"
    "/private"
    "/sbin"
    "/System"
    "/tmp"
    "/Users"
    "/usr"
    "/var"
    "$HOME"
    "$HOME/Desktop"
    "$HOME/Documents"
    "$HOME/Documents/TODO.txt_Private"
    "$HOME/Downloads"
    "$HOME/Pictures"
    "$HOME/Applications"
    "$HOME/Dev"
    "$HOME/Dropbox"
    "$HOME/.go"
    "$HOME/go"
    "$HOME/Library"
    "$HOME/Movies"
    "$HOME/Music"
    "$HOME/Parallels"
    "$HOME/Programs"
    "$HOME/Public"
    "$HOME/Test"
  )

  for arg in "$@"; do
    if [[ "$arg" == "--yes" ]]; then
      YES="true"
    else
      args+=("$arg")
    fi
  done

  block() {
    echo "🚫 rm blocked"
    echo "   Protected target: $1"
    echo "   Use --yes if you are absolutely sure."

    # IMPORTANT: This doesn't stop the script and it must be stopped
    return 1
  }

  # True if target is exactly: DIR/*  DIR/.  DIR/..
  is_wipe_of_dir() {
    local target="$1"
    local dir="$2"
    [[ "$target" == "$dir"/* ]] && [[ "${target#$dir/}" == "*" ]] && return 0
    [[ "$target" == "$dir"/ ]] && return 0
    [[ "$target" == "$dir/." || "$target" == "$dir/.." ]] && return 0
    return 1
  }

  # Normalize path; keep glob literal if it contains '*'
  normalize() {
    local p="$1"
    if [[ "$p" == *"*"* ]]; then
      # Expand ~ but keep glob
      if [[ "$p" == "~/"* ]]; then
        echo "$HOME/${p#~/}"
      else
        echo "$p"
      fi
    else
      realpath -m -- "$p" 2>/dev/null || echo "$p"
    fi
  }

  STOP="false"

  for target in "${args[@]}"; do
    local resolved
    resolved="$(normalize "$target")"

    for dir in "${protected_dirs[@]}"; do
      local dnorm
      dnorm="$(normalize "$dir")"

      # 1) rm ... DIR  -> block
      if [[ "$resolved" == "$dnorm" ]]; then
        if [[ "$YES" == "true" ]]; then
          STOP="true"

          break
        fi

        block "$resolved"

        # STOP THE SCRIPT
        # Cannot use exit as it closes the shell
        return 1
      fi

      if is_wipe_of_dir "$resolved" "$dnorm"; then
        if [[ "$YES" == "true" ]]; then
          STOP="true"

          break
        fi

        block "$resolved"

        return 1
      fi
    done

    if [[ "$STOP" == "true" ]]; then
      break
    fi
  done

  echo "✅ Removing ${args[@]}"

  command /bin/rm "${args[@]}"
}