How to disable the trash can in KDE

Question

From what I gather, the idea of a "trash can" is of Windows descent, and was to make a user's life easier. However, when I go to delete a file, I don't hit delete unless I know I don't need it and will never need it ever again. Period. I'm currently running OpenSuse and the trash can is a confusing "feature" (as I can't seem to find WHERE it is) that sometimes even creates cute little directories on my flash drives for trash.

Basically put, I don't like the trash can idea. Is there a way I can "turn it off"? I'm assuming it's a filesystem thing, so it might be harder to do then I predict. Basically, I would like to perform a rm -rf on the file that is selected (-r in case it is a directory). Is this at all possible?

Solution 1

Under KDE you can hit shift+del to directly delete selected files (or directories). Or you can press shift while chosing 'move to trash ...' in the context menu, which has the same effect.

IIRC this also works under Windows.

Probably there is some trash-properties dialog under KDE to globally disable the trash feature. It is possible to configure it in Dolphin, but perhaps there is also a more general solution in KDE available.

Solution 2

You can redefine Delete key action in Dolphin. Settings->Configure Shortcuts Delete key is now actually delete

Also remove Trash entry from Places panel. And your Dolphin is "Move to trash" free.

Actually you still have it on file/foldercontext menu..

Solution 3

I'm not sure about KDE, but many DEs support the shift+del for removal of files bypassing the trash.

Comments

[n0pe]

Currently I'm using KDE

[maxschlepzig]

'How to disable the trash can under KDE 4?' as new title?

[n0pe]

@max, changed the title and added the kde tag. However, I'd like to know how to do this is all popular environments.

[n0pe]

I'm currently using dolphin and the method described in the post didn't fully work. I'm guessing that was with a previous version.

[space earth]

+1, this is the only answer which attempts to address the OP's objective.