Beside doing this, I like to first just move files to another dir (keeping the relative path) instead of deleting them. It's basically like a DIY recycle bin.

If both paths are on the same disk moving files is a fast operation - and if you discover a screw up, you can easily undo it. On the other hand if everything still looks fine after a few days, you just `rm -rf` that folder and purge the files.