Is there a way for explorer to delete to trash?

[bertradio]

I really like explorer, but want to enable a key for delete to trash instead of permanently delete. I am using nvim on win 11 and Linux.

[dpetka2001]

It's not possible and maintainer has expressed no interest to implement it.

[Muizzyranking]

I disagree.

[drowning-cat]

Override explorer_del

• Uses trash-cli to delete files.
• Overrides the explorer_del action, meaning all deleted files will be moved to the trash.

Light

opts = {
  picker = {
    sources = {
      explorer = {
        actions = {
          explorer_del = function(picker)
            local _, res = pcall(function()
              return vim.fn.confirm('Do you want to put files into trash?', '&Yes\n&No\n&Cancel', 1, 'Question')
            end)
            if res ~= 1 then
              return
            end
            for _, item in ipairs(picker:selected { fallback = true }) do
              vim.fn.jobstart('trash ' .. item.file, {
                detach = true,
                on_exit = function()
                  picker:update()
                end,
              })
            end
          end,
        },
      },
    },
  },
},

Fancy

opts = {
  picker = {
    sources = {
      explorer = {
        actions = {
          explorer_del = function(picker) --[[Override]]
            local actions = require 'snacks.explorer.actions'
            local Tree = require 'snacks.explorer.tree'
            local paths = vim.tbl_map(Snacks.picker.util.path, picker:selected { fallback = true })
            -- if #paths == 0 then return end
            local what = #paths == 1 and vim.fn.fnamemodify(paths[1], ':p:~:.') or #paths .. ' files'
            actions.confirm('Put to the trash ' .. what .. '?', function()
              local jobs = #paths
              local after_job = function()
                jobs = jobs - 1
                if jobs == 0 then
                  picker.list:set_selected()
                  actions.update(picker)
                end
              end
              for _, path in ipairs(paths) do
                local err_data = {}
                local cmd = string.format("trash '%s'", path) --[[Actual command to run]]
                local job_id = vim.fn.jobstart(cmd, {
                  detach = true,
                  on_stderr = function(_, data)
                    err_data[#err_data + 1] = table.concat(data, '\n')
                  end,
                  on_exit = function(_, code)
                    pcall(function()
                      if code == 0 then
                        Snacks.bufdelete { file = path, force = true }
                      else
                        local err_msg = vim.trim(table.concat(err_data, ''))
                        Snacks.notify.error('Failed to delete `' .. path .. '`:\n- ' .. err_msg)
                      end
                      Tree:refresh(vim.fs.dirname(path))
                    end)
                    after_job()
                  end,
                })
                if job_id == 0 then
                  after_job()
                  Snacks.notify.error('Failed to start the job for: ' .. path)
                end
              end
            end)
          end,
        },
      },
    },
  },
},

+Windows support

opts = {
  picker = {
    sources = {
      explorer = {
        actions = {
          explorer_del = function(picker) --[[Override]]
            local Tree = require 'snacks.explorer.tree'
            local paths = vim.tbl_map(Snacks.picker.util.path, picker:selected { fallback = true })
            local what = #paths == 1 and vim.fn.fnamemodify(paths[1], ':p:~:.') or #paths .. ' files'
            local confirm = function(prompt, fn)
              Snacks.picker.select({ 'Yes', 'No' }, { prompt = prompt }, function(_, idx)
                if idx == 1 then fn() end
              end)
            end
            confirm('Put to the trash ' .. what .. '?', function()
              local jobs = #paths
              local after_job = function()
                jobs = jobs - 1
                if jobs == 0 then
                  picker.list:set_selected()
                  picker:update()
                end
              end
              for _, path in ipairs(paths) do
                local err_data = {}
                local wrong_os = vim.fn.has 'win32' == 1
                local cmd = { 'trash', path } --[[Actual command to run]]
                if wrong_os then
                  cmd = {
                    'powershell',
                    '-Command',
                    -- stylua: ignore
                    string.format([[(New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application).Namespace((Split-Path '%s')).ParseName((Split-Path '%s' -Leaf)).InvokeVerb('delete')]], path, path),
                  }
                end
                local job_id = vim.fn.jobstart(cmd, {
                  detach = not wrong_os,
                  on_stderr = function(_, data)
                    err_data[#err_data + 1] = table.concat(data, '\n')
                  end,
                  on_exit = function(_, code)
                    pcall(function()
                      if code == 0 then
                        Snacks.bufdelete { file = path, force = true }
                      else
                        local err_msg = vim.trim(table.concat(err_data, ''))
                        Snacks.notify.error('Failed to delete `' .. path .. '`:\n- ' .. err_msg)
                      end
                      Tree:refresh(vim.fs.dirname(path))
                    end)
                    after_job()
                  end,
                })
                if job_id == 0 then
                  after_job()
                  Snacks.notify.error('Failed to start the job for: ' .. path)
                end
              end
            end)
          end,
        },
      },
    },
  },
},

[bertradio]

How would I do this on windows?

[drowning-cat]

I can speak for myself. In the case of my code, all you need to do is replace local cmd = 'trash ' .. path with a command that moves the file to the trash on Windows.

[bertradio]

Thanks, That worked

…

On Tue, Apr 15, 2025, at 22:38, Drowning Cat wrote: I can speak for myself. In the case of my code all you need to do is to replace `local cmd = 'trash ' .. path` with a command to put into trash for Windows. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1647 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALLYYRNLSHBNLLT7VZIOKU32ZXUGXAVCNFSM6AAAAAB2ANBIV2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTEOBUHE4TIOA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[drowning-cat]

Could you please share the command that you are using for windows?

[bertradio]

Here's the code for files. The problem is that it crashes on directories. So there needs to be an if statement to deal with that.

  local cmd = 'powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic; [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteFile(\''
                    .. path
                    .. "', 'OnlyErrorDialogs', 'SendToRecycleBin')\""

It probably needs something like this

 local cmd
                if vim.loop.fs_stat(path).type == 'directory' then
                  cmd = 'powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic; [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteDirectory(\''
                    .. path
                    .. "', 'OnlyErrorDialogs', 'SendToRecycleBin')\""
                else
                  cmd = 'powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic; [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteFile(\''
                    .. path
                    .. "', 'OnlyErrorDialogs', 'SendToRecycleBin')\""
                end

[sebastianstudniczek]

Is it working for you? For some reason there is no effect when I am trying to use it, but the same command pasted in cmd works fine

[bertradio]

This is the code I have that works for me under actions to re-define delete to delete to trash for both Win and Linux. is_windows is a function I wrote that returns true if running on Windows. explorer_del = function(picker) local actions = require('snacks.explorer.actions') local Tree = require('snacks.explorer.tree') local paths = vim.tbl_map(Snacks.picker.util.path, picker:selected({ fallback = true })) if #paths == 0 then return end local what = #paths == 1 and vim.fn.fnamemodify(paths[1], ':p:~:.') or #paths .. ' files' actions.confirm('Move ' .. what .. ' to recycle bin?', function() for _, path in ipairs(paths) do local cmd local is_windows = vim.loop.os_uname().sysname == 'Windows_NT' local stat = vim.loop.fs_stat(path) if is_windows then if stat and stat.type == 'directory' then cmd = 'powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic; [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteDirectory(\'' .. path .. "', 'OnlyErrorDialogs', 'SendToRecycleBin')\"" else cmd = 'powershell.exe -Command "Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic; [Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem]::DeleteFile(\'' .. path .. "', 'OnlyErrorDialogs', 'SendToRecycleBin')\"" end else if vim.fn.executable('trash') == 1 then cmd = 'trash "' .. path .. '"' else Snacks.notify.error('Missing `trash` CLI on this system') return end end local result = vim.fn.system(cmd) if vim.v.shell_error == 0 then Snacks.bufdelete({ file = path, force = true }) Tree:refresh(vim.fs.dirname(path)) else Snacks.notify.error('Failed to delete `' .. path .. '`:\n- ' .. result) end end picker.list:set_selected() actions.update(picker) end) end,

…

On Mon, Aug 25, 2025, at 12:17, Sebastian Studniczek wrote: Is it working for you? For some reason there is no effect when I am trying to use it, but the same command pasted in cmd works fine — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1647 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALLYYRK6TUTVBNHT6GOJCT33PNOODAVCNFSM6AAAAAB2ANBIV2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTIMRRGM4DKMI>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[sebastianstudniczek]

It works, thanks for help ! Guess there is some problem when trying to use it with vim.fn.jobstart

[drowning-cat]

I updated the code. It should now work on both platforms.