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Install trash-cli – sudo apt-get install trash-cli

Put files in the trash with: trash file1 file2

List files in trash: trash-list

Empty trash with: trash-empty

As of 2017, gvfs-trash seems to be deprecated.

$ touch test

$ gvfs-trash test

This tool has been deprecated, use 'gio trash' instead.

See 'gio help trash' for more info.

You should use gio, specifically

gio trash

is the recommended way.

I like the low tech ways the best. I made a folder .Tr in my home directory by typing:

mkdir ~/.Tr

and instead of using rm to delete files, I move those files to the ~/.Tr directory by typing:

mv fileName ~/.Tr

This is an effective and simple way of keeping access to files you think you don't want with the added benefit in my case of not messing with the system's folders, as my Ubuntu knowledge levels are fairly low and I worry about what I might be screwing up when I mess with system stuff. If you are also low level please note that the "." in the directory name makes it a hidden directory.

A previous answer mentions the command gio trash, which is fine as far as it goes. However, on server machines, there is no equivalent of a trash directory. I've written a Bash script that does the job; on (Ubuntu) desktop machines, it uses gio trash. (I've added alias tt='move-to-trash' to my alias definitions file; tt is a mnemonic for "to trash".)

#!/bin/bash

# move-to-trash



# Teemu Leisti 2018-07-08



# This script moves the files given as arguments to the trash directory, if they

# are not already there. It works both on (Ubuntu) desktop and server hosts.

#

# The script is intended as a command-line equivalent of deleting a file from a

# graphical file manager, which, in the usual case, moves the deleted file(s) to

# a built-in trash directory. On server hosts, the analogy is not perfect, as

# the script does not offer the functionalities of restoring a trashed file to

# its original location nor of emptying the trash directory; rather, it is an

# alternative to the 'rm' command that offers the user the peace of mind that

# they can still undo an unintended deletion before they empty the trash

# directory.

#

# To determine whether it's running on a desktop host, the script tests for the

# existence of directory ~/.local/share/Trash. In case it is, the script relies

# on the 'gio trash' command.

#

# When not running on a desktop host, there is no built-in trash directory, so

# the first invocation of the script creates one: ~/.Trash/. It will not

# overwrite an existing file in that directory; instead, in case a file given as

# an argument already exists in the custom trash directory, the script first

# appends a timestamp to the filename, with millisecond resolution, such that no

# existing file will be overwritten.

#

# The script will not choke on a nonexistent file. It outputs the final

# disposition of each argument: does not exist, was already in trash, or was

# moved to the trash.





# Exit on using an uninitialized variable, and on a command returning an error.

# (The latter setting necessitates appending " || true" to those arithmetic

# calculations that can result in a value of 0, lest bash interpret the result

# as signalling an error.)

set -eu



is_desktop=0



if [[ -d ~/.local/share/Trash ]] ; then

    is_desktop=1

    trash_dir_abspath=$(realpath ~/.local/share/Trash)

else

    trash_dir_abspath=$(realpath ~/.Trash)

    if [[ -e $trash_dir_abspath ]] ; then

        if [[ ! -d $trash_dir_abspath ]] ; then

            echo "The file $trash_dir_abspath exists, but is not a directory. Exiting."

            exit 1

        fi

    else

        mkdir $trash_dir_abspath

        echo "Created directory $trash_dir_abspath"

    fi

fi



for file in "$@" ; do

    file_abspath=$(realpath -- "$file")

    file_basename=$( basename -- "$file_abspath" )

    if [[ ! -e $file_abspath ]] ; then

        echo "does not exist:   $file_abspath"

    elif [[ "$file_abspath" == "$trash_dir_abspath"* ]] ; then

        echo "already in trash: $file_abspath"

    else

        if (( is_desktop == 1 )) ; then

            gio trash "$file_abspath" || true

        else

            move_to_abspath="$trash_dir_abspath/$file_basename"

            while [[ -e "$move_to_abspath" ]] ; do

                move_to_abspath="$trash_dir_abspath/$file_basename-"$(date '+%Y-%m-%d-at-%H:%M:%S.%3N')

            done

            # While we're reasonably sure that the file at $move_to_abspath does not exist, we shall

            # use the '-f' (force) flag in the 'mv' command anyway, to be sure that moving the file

            # to the trash directory is successful even in the extremely unlikely case that due to a

            # run condition, some other thread has created the file $move_to_abspath after the

            # execution of the while test above.

            /bin/mv -f "$file_abspath" "$move_to_abspath"

        fi

        echo "moved to trash:   $file_abspath"

    fi

done

Here is a open source nodejs-based version (if you want to know, what happens under the hood, or need this in a project), that also has command line support (if you are happy, if it just works.

> trash pictures/beach.jpg

Updating @Radu Rădeanu answer. Since Ubuntu is telling me to use gio instead...

So, to trash some_file (or folder) use

gio trash some_file

To go dumpster diving use

gio list trash://

To empty trash

gio trash --empty