Deleting Files with the Trash Icon

The Trash icon on your Red Hat Linux desktop is one of the most obvious methods of deleting files. If you want to delete a file on your desktop or from a window onscreen, click on the file and drag it onto the Trash icon and then release the mouse button. When the Trash has something in it, you will see its icon change from being empty (see Figure 6-1) to being full of paper.

Figure 6-10. A Full Trash Can

Tip

Every time you right-click a file in the Red Hat Linux interface (such as in the Nautilus file manager), there will be a Move to Trash item on the menu that appears. You can choose this menu item to instantly move the file to the Trash.

Recovering Files from the Trash

The nice thing about the Trash is that you have a chance to salvage the file — just like you could take a piece of paper out of a trash can after throwing it away. To recover a file that you have thrown in the Trash, double-click the Trash icon on your desktop, find the file you want to recover, and drag it out of the trash onto your desktop or wherever else you want to put it.

Caution

Keep in mind that you cannot recover a file from the Trash after you have emptied the trash or deleted the file from the Trash (as discussed in the next section).

Emptying the Trash

The trash can is just like a real trash can — it does not empty itself; you have to empty it.

Warning

After you empty the Trash, all files in it are gone forever.

To empty the Trash, do one of the following:

• Double-click the Trash icon on your desktop and choose File > Empty Trash.

• Right-click the Trash icon on your desktop and choose Empty Trash.

  Note

  If you only want to delete one file from the Trash, not every file, you can open the Trash, click on the file, and choose Edit > Delete from Trash.