Remove files

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Oct 10, 2007, at 00:23, David Epstein wrote:

> Does MacPorts have a version of rm that does secure removal of  
> files (that is, scribbling over the disk so that info cannot be  
> recovered)? I want this for files about my bank dealings---I'm not  
> referring to files that come from MacPorts downloads.

Actually, it looks like you may not need to install any additional  
software at all. Check out "man rm":

>      -P          Overwrite regular files before deleting them.   
> Files are
>                  overwritten three times, first with the byte  
> pattern 0xff,
>                  then 0x00, and then 0xff again, before they are  
> deleted.

>      The -P option assumes that the underlying file system is a  
> fixed-block
>      file system.  In addition, only regular files are overwritten,  
> other
>      types of files are not.