How do I delete a specific file located in Trash on a Mac, without deleting others (even possible?)

August 27, 2011

[papasmurf]

And to think, your family member coulda' had an machine, and bought a 2nd machine for you to use when you come over with the difference in prices.

[John Valentine]

On a Mac, this function is called the TRASH, not the “recycle bin”. Stuff you put in there is meant to be erased, deleted, and gone, not “recycled”. If a Mac user wants to keep a file, he doesn’t put it in the trash, it’s that simple.

You say that you are using a friend’s Mac. Do you think your friends are silly, careless people? If you don’t think that, then as Mac users, you can assume, very safely that if they put anything in the trash, they didn’t do it with the intention of someday retrieving it.

Just go ahead and empty the trash. You’ll be doing them a favor.

[Amadeo]

The answer is NO.

I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that anyway.

[Amadeo]

This would take all of 10 seconds to do but he would rather spend an hour on here pretending that Windows can do something a Mac cant do. The best solution would be Get A Life.

---

I think you’ve nailed it.

He must be pulling our legs. The entire question is inane.

[Liberty Valance]

Get a PC

[3Fingas]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum.
I don't know why people think it's funny to tell unsuspecting people to "rm -rf /" their hard drive.
Anyhow, a simple way to get rid of such files is to Open up your terminal
-> application folder
--> utilities
---> terminal
Then, click on your trash can icon.
In the terminal window type "rm" followed by a space.
In your trash can folder, drag the desired file onto the terminal window.
In the terminal window, it should read,
"rm /Users//.Trash/"
Then just hit enter. Files is unlinked, therefore not visible to file system, but the content remains until the space on the hard drive is overwritten.
One way to securely (well, mostly secure) way to delete files from the terminal is to do the following:
cat /dev/null > name_of_file_to_be_deleted.
The above command writes over the file with "0's" making recovery of the original file's contents impossible by normal tools.
This is a good practice to use when deleting personal files. I use it all the time when deleting files containing financial information (tax returns, bank statements, etc.).

[kings9111]

Try Delete Now - http://www.slashbackassociates.com/deletenow.html - I think it is freeware or shareware.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Howabout this:

Open Terminal
Open Trash
Type “rm -R” at the prompt and drag the file to command line.
You have just completely removed a single file or folder from your Mac.

Easy-peasy! :)

*Use with caution if you have no idea how power the the ‘rm’ command can be.*

[lefty-lie-spy]

Oh boy! I had the sense to not even attempt to post that. LOL.

[JRandomFreeper]

Training newbies is God's work. Pain comes from action. Action is learned. Don't discount the teachers.

/johnny

[newzjunkey]

Well, can you delete individual files in the trash on OSX, like you can in Windows? Simple yes or no question…

Yes you can.

Open the "Trash", select the item you want to delete and click the "Delete" (red circle with slash) icon in the toolbar.

It may not be on the toolbar by default, you can add it through the "View" menu item "Customize Toolbar…"

(Worked on Snow Leopard, 10.6, not on Tiger, 10.4. I don't have Leopard, 10.5, or Lion, 10.7, at hand to test.)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I should be able to hold down one key on the keyboard and a pop-up menu should appear with the word “Delete file.”

But you can't. Several people have given the solution to your question; "Is it even possible to delete only specific files from the trash on a Mac?"     No.

Now you've got us all really curious as to whether you are interested in deleting the files at all or are just interested in making a Mac do something it was not designed to do.

You keep replying about all this extra effort to move all files then move some files back. Not really what I'd call a lot of extra work.

What the dilly-o?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I don't know why people think it's funny to tell unsuspecting people to "rm -rf /" their hard drive.

It's not. But it does highlight one of the essential difference between Conservative and Liberal thought.
'Stupidity should be painful'.

Anyone who would run a command like that without first running a web search on it is stupid. They deserve what they get. Sort of like pulling the pin from a greande without first asking, "What is this thing?"

You will find a lot of Conservatives here on FR Noob. That is why you will find a lot of people posting things like the rm -rf /* command. It's not meant to be funny but it will teach a lesson to someone who is sorely in need of it. Pain is temporary but it's legacy is long lasting. It weakness leaving the body.

[rockrr]

And if I were to teach you the best way to check if a weapon is clear is to put it up to your temple and pull the trigger?

Teaching is one thing, what you suggested was juvenile mischief.

[3Fingas]

Hoping for the electronic Darwin award. PING.

[FourtySeven]

Im not sure that’s a good idea. Files permanently deleted by emtying the trash are, I believe, not recoverable, even if one has a Time Capsule.

I thought it was possible to select a particular file that one wishes to delete in the Trash, and then press the “delete” key on the keyboard.

That doesn’t work? I’d try myself, but power is out cuz of this stupid hurricane.

[AppyPappy]

“That’s what every person on the internet says to do. But it’s unnecessary extra work.”

Oh, you don’t want to actually do it. You just want to complain about it. You should have said that in the title.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>Im not sure that’s a good idea. Files permanently deleted by emtying the trash are, I believe, not recoverable, even if one has a Time Capsule

If one needs to recover a file, they can do so from the Time Machine/Capsule back-up made prior to the file being placed in the trash, and the trash emptied. I’ve done this very thing on a few occasions myself.

[FourtySeven]

Along the lines of asking first, “What is this thing?” before pulling a pin on a grenade: What does “rm -rf /” do? Is it a reformatting command?

[FourtySeven]

Ok thanks for the correction.

The reason I said that was because when I’ve emptied my Trash in the past, it would gve me a warning that said the files would not be recoverable anymore. It doesn’t seem to say that anymore for some reason.