dired-do-delete: Allow to delete dirs recursively without prompts

* lisp/dired.el (dired-delete-file): Accept 2 additional answers:
'all', to delete all directories recursively and no prompt anymore.
'quit', to cancel directory deletions (Bug#27940).
Show help message when user inputs 'help'.
(dired-do-flagged-delete): Bind locally dired-recursive-deletes
so that we can overwrite its global value.
Wrapp the loop within a catch '--delete-cancel to catch when
the user abort the directtry deletion.
* doc/emacs/dired.texi (Dired Deletion): Update manual.
* etc/NEWS (Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 26.1):
Announce this change.

3 files changed, 60 insertions, 18 deletions

diff --git a/doc/emacs/dired.texi b/doc/emacs/dired.texi
index 150ac8427ab..c1cc2f8cf96 100644
--- a/doc/emacs/dired.texi
+++ b/doc/emacs/dired.texi
@@ -236,6 +236,14 @@ Dired cannot delete directories that are nonempty.  If the variable
 @code{dired-recursive-deletes} is non-@code{nil}, then Dired can
 delete nonempty directories including all their contents.  That can
 be somewhat risky.
+Even if you have set @code{dired-recursive-deletes} to @code{nil},
+you might want sometimes to delete recursively directories
+without being asked for confirmation for all of them.  This is handy
+when you have marked many directories for deletion and you are very
+sure that all of them can safely being deleted.  For every nonempty
+directory you are asked for confirmation; if you answer @code{all},
+then all the remaining directories will be deleted without more
+questions.
 
 @vindex delete-by-moving-to-trash
   If you change the variable @code{delete-by-moving-to-trash} to
diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index b72793dec08..b47bf959bed 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -611,6 +611,10 @@ paragraphs, for the purposes of bidirectional display.
 ** Dired
 
 +++
+*** You can answer 'all' in 'dired-do-delete' to delete recursively all
+remaining directories without more prompts.
+
++++
 *** Dired supports wildcards in the directory part of the file names.
 
 +++
diff --git a/lisp/dired.el b/lisp/dired.el
index d04bd6fe037..0bad2562eb4 100644
--- a/lisp/dired.el
+++ b/lisp/dired.el
@@ -2981,6 +2981,14 @@ Any other value means to ask for each directory."
 ;; Match anything but `.' and `..'.
 (defvar dired-re-no-dot "^\\([^.]\\|\\.\\([^.]\\|\\..\\)\\).*")
 
+(defconst dired-delete-help
+  "Type:
+`yes' to delete recursively the current directory,
+`no' to skip to next,
+`all' to delete all remaining directories with no more questions,
+`quit' to exit,
+`help' to show this help message.")
+
 ;; Delete file, possibly delete a directory and all its files.
 ;; This function is useful outside of dired.  One could change its name
 ;; to e.g. recursive-delete-file and put it somewhere else.
@@ -2996,23 +3004,40 @@ its possible values is:
 
 TRASH non-nil means to trash the file instead of deleting, provided
 `delete-by-moving-to-trash' (which see) is non-nil."
-  ;; This test is equivalent to
-  ;; (and (file-directory-p fn) (not (file-symlink-p fn)))
-  ;; but more efficient
-  (if (not (eq t (car (file-attributes file))))
-      (delete-file file trash)
-    (if (and recursive
-             (directory-files file t dired-re-no-dot) ; Not empty.
-             (or (eq recursive 'always)
-                 (yes-or-no-p (format "Recursively %s %s? "
-                                      (if (and trash
-                                               delete-by-moving-to-trash)
-                                          "trash"
-                                        "delete")
-                                      (dired-make-relative file)))))
-        (if (eq recursive 'top) (setq recursive 'always)) ; Don't ask again.
-      (setq recursive nil))
-    (delete-directory file recursive trash)))
+       ;; This test is equivalent to
+       ;; (and (file-directory-p fn) (not (file-symlink-p fn)))
+       ;; but more efficient
+       (if (not (eq t (car (file-attributes file))))
+           (delete-file file trash)
+         (let* ((valid-answers (list "yes" "no" "all" "quit" "help"))
+                (answer "")
+                (input-fn (lambda ()
+                            (setq answer
+                                  (completing-read
+                                   (format "Recursively %s %s? [yes, no, all, quit, help] "
+                                           (if (and trash
+                                                    delete-by-moving-to-trash)
+                                               "trash"
+                                             "delete")
+                                           (dired-make-relative file))
+                                   valid-answers nil t))
+                            (when (string= answer "help")
+                              (setq answer "")
+                              (with-help-window "*Help*"
+                                (with-current-buffer "*Help*" (insert dired-delete-help))))
+                            answer)))
+           (if (and recursive
+                    (directory-files file t dired-re-no-dot) ; Not empty.
+                    (eq recursive 'always))
+               (if (eq recursive 'top) (setq recursive 'always)) ; Don't ask again.
+             ;; Otherwise prompt user:
+             (while (string= "" answer) (funcall input-fn))
+             (pcase answer
+               ('"all" (setq recursive 'always dired-recursive-deletes recursive))
+               ('"yes" (if (eq recursive 'top) (setq recursive 'always)))
+               ('"no" (setq recursive nil))
+               ('"quit" (keyboard-quit))))
+           (delete-directory file recursive trash))))
 
 (defun dired-do-flagged-delete (&optional nomessage)
   "In Dired, delete the files flagged for deletion.
@@ -3061,6 +3086,9 @@ non-empty directories is allowed."
   (let* ((files (mapcar #'car l))
          (count (length l))
          (succ 0)
+         ;; Bind `dired-recursive-deletes' so that we can change it
+         ;; locally according with the user answer within `dired-delete-file'.
+         (dired-recursive-deletes dired-recursive-deletes)
          (trashing (and trash delete-by-moving-to-trash)))
     ;; canonicalize file list for pop up
     (setq files (nreverse (mapcar #'dired-make-relative files)))
@@ -3070,6 +3098,7 @@ non-empty directories is allowed."
                  (if trashing "Trash" "Delete")
                  (dired-mark-prompt arg files)))
         (save-excursion
+          (catch '--delete-cancel
           (let ((progress-reporter
                  (make-progress-reporter
                   (if trashing "Trashing..." "Deleting...")
@@ -3087,6 +3116,7 @@ non-empty directories is allowed."
                       (dired-fun-in-all-buffers
                        (file-name-directory fn) (file-name-nondirectory fn)
                        #'dired-delete-entry fn))
+                  (quit (throw '--delete-cancel (message "OK, canceled")))
                   (error ;; catch errors from failed deletions
                    (dired-log "%s\n" err)
                    (setq failures (cons (car (car l)) failures)))))
@@ -3097,7 +3127,7 @@ non-empty directories is allowed."
                (format "%d of %d deletion%s failed"
                        (length failures) count
                        (dired-plural-s count))
-               failures))))
+               failures)))))
       (message "(No deletions performed)")))
   (dired-move-to-filename))