empd is a tool for checking if a file or directory is empty, or if a symbolic link points to a non-existent path. I use it instead of paranoidly checking paths with file, ls, stat, etc. before deleting them.
empd has only been tested on Linux.
# TODO Publish to crates.io
cargo install --git https://github.com/andrewliebenow/empdIf and only if the path passed to empd is an empty directory, empty file, or a symbolic link that points to a non-existent path, empd will terminate with an exit code of 0.
If the -d/--delete-if-empty flag is used, the file, directory, or symbolic link will be deleted IF it is empty/points to non-existent path AND confirmation is given at an interactive prompt. As such, empd -d/empd --delete-if-empty should be reasonably safe to use (i.e. can never delete a non-empty directory or file). However, no file locking is performed, so if the path is modified while the confirmation prompt is waiting for input, a non-empty file or directory could be deleted.
(Actual terminal output is colorized.)
❯ empd --help
Checks if a directory or file is empty, or if a symbolic link points to a path that does not exist. Only supports UTF-8 paths
Usage: empd [OPTIONS] <PATH>
Arguments:
<PATH> Path to test
Options:
-d, --delete-if-empty Delete the file or directory if it is empty
-h, --help Print help
-V, --version Print version❯ cd /mnt && empd .
Canonicalized input path "." to "/mnt"
🗙 Path "/mnt" is a non-empty directory (directories: 24, files: 0, symlinks: 0, total items: 24)
Exiting with non-zero exit code 31❯ sudo touch /blankfile && cd / && empd blankfile
Canonicalized input path "blankfile" to "/blankfile"
✔ Path "/blankfile" is an empty file❯ ln -s ./does-not-exist ./new-symbolic-link && empd ./new-symbolic-link
Could not canonicalize input path "./new-symbolic-link" because it or the file it resolves to does not exist
✔ Path "./new-symbolic-link" (non-canonicalized) is a symbolic link to non-existent file "./does-not-exist" (non-canonicalized)MIT License, see LICENSE file