Cutting files is a broken abstraction

Part 1: cutting files is a lie[permalink] I’ve written before in detail on how the clipboard works: when I copy something that program announces to others “I have something for you to paste”, and when you paste on another program, that one says “gimme that copied data”. (this oversimplifies, see linked article if you want the full details) So what happens when we cut? In a text editor, cutting just copies something and removes it from the text file immediately. It’s a “copy and delete” action really. The same applies for image editors, and for most other “editors”. A browser’s text field also counts as a “text editor” in this case. So what happens when we cut a file? When cutting a file in a file-manager, it will just copy the file, and internally track that it was cut. If you paste into another location using that same file-manager, it’ll move the file instead of pasting. But if you paste into some other program, like an instant messaging client, the file is pasted as a usual…