[Pan-users] Re: Help

[Greg Lee]

On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:42:47 +0000, Duncan wrote:

> The moral of this point is this:  When deleting (rm-ing) anything,
> particularly hidden files, OR when typing in ANY command as root, get in
> the habit of typing in the command but NOT THE ENTER.  Then sit on your
> hands a moment, and LOOK CAREFULLY at the command.  Make sure it's the
> command you intended, not something else.  When you are SURE it's going
> to have the desired effect, and won't bring a nasty surprise, THEN go
> ahead and hit that ENTER key.  =8^)

Yes, that pause before hitting ENTER has become a reflex.  And
here's something else (sorry to continue the tangent):  Always
use file name completion, which your shell program (presumably
bash) provides. After you've typed part, or even all, of a file name
after a command, hit the TAB key to have the shell complete the
name for you.  This not only saves lots of time typing long
file names, but it helps avoid mistakes. E.g., "rm -r .pan2<TAB>"
will display a space after the ".pan2" if there is just one file or
directory with name beginning ".pan2" in the current directory.  If 
you thought that was true but you don't see the space when you
type TAB, you know you've got a problem.  Maybe you misspelled the
name, or maybe you're in the wrong directory ...  (I make such
mistakes all the time.)  You could now hit TAB again, and you'll be
given a list of names in the directory starting with ".pan2",
perhaps in this example: ".pan2    .pan2.backup".

-- 
Greg