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syq

These docs describe unreleased changes on master. Read the latest stable documentation.

Remove files

See syq rm for the option list.

Remove a file or symlink:

syq rm old-file

Named paths, --src, and --srcs refuse directories. Select a tree explicitly to remove it recursively:

syq rm --src-dir old-output

Remove a directory’s contents recursively, leaving the directory itself:

syq rm --srcs-in cache

Add --dry-run -v to either command to see what would be removed first. Missing paths succeed. Filesystem removal is permanent; completed deletions cannot be rolled back.

On another machine

syq rm --on server --src-dir /scratch/old-output

This removes /scratch/old-output on server. Remote removal runs while your connection stays open; there is no detached mode. With --dry-run, nothing is removed, but remote setup may still cache the helper or install syq.

For object storage, use --on s3://BUCKET:

syq rm --on s3://backups --src-dir old-backup --dry-run -v

Ordinary removal respects bucket versioning; explicit version deletion is available with --s3-all-versions or --s3-version-id. See S3 removal.

Limit the selection

syq rm --root /srv --src-dir cache --src-dir old-output

This removes /srv/cache and /srv/old-output, with selection confined to /srv. Use --src-non-dir PATH or --src-dir DIR when the path must be a non-directory or directory respectively. All selections are checked before deletion begins. Filters are not supported.

A selected symlink is removed as a link, leaving its target alone. Symlinks inside a selected directory are also only unlinked.

--follow-src permits traversal through symlinks in --cwd, --root, and selector parent directories. --follow also permits symlinks in the --results path. The final selected symlink is always removed as a link, even with --follow-src or --follow. For example, if current points to releases/v1, syq rm --follow-src current/log.txt removes releases/v1/log.txt, while syq rm --follow-src current removes only the link.

--src-dir and --srcs-in reject a final selected symlink, including when following is enabled. Select the actual directory to remove it or its contents. With --root, traversal must still stay inside that root.

Results

Removal continues with independent entries after per-entry failures and exits 23. S3 removal uses concurrent batches and reports each key or version separately. During permanent removal, a data-version failure preserves all selected delete markers; see S3 removal. Fatal setup or connection failures exit 1. Use --results for per-path outcomes in scripts.

For the full option list, run syq rm --help-all.