exclude directory from find

ebasi · 07-16-2004, 01:49 AM

i would like to find some files in my system but I don't know how to exclude some directories from this search

example:
find /data/ -iname "*.mp3" -or -iname "*.mpg" -or -iname "*.avi" -or -iname "*.exe" -or -iname "*.mpeg" -or -iname "*.asf" -or -iname "*.wmv" -or -iname "*.wma" -type f

I don't want to search in /data/download/
Help me please!

free_ouyo · 07-16-2004, 01:58 AM

Hello,

You can use the grep command like :

find /data/ -iname "*.mp3" -or ... "*.wma" -type f | grep -v "^/data/download/"

Hope this help

Free_ouyo

ebasi · 07-16-2004, 02:05 AM

Thanks a lot, it's fine!!!

Tinkster · 07-16-2004, 02:08 AM

Code:

man find
/-path

Speaks for itself ... look at the prune within that section

Code:

man find
/OPERATORS

That suggests that the whole lot probably doesn't quite do
what you want in the first place ...
You want to seperate them with , not with -or ....

Cheers,
Tink

ebasi · 07-16-2004, 02:11 AM

I wanna remove the files

find /data/docs-clients/ -iname "*.mp3" -or -iname "*.mpg" -or -iname "*.avi" -type f -exec rm {}
some like this
but i don't want to remove the files from /data/download/ directory

Tinkster · 07-16-2004, 09:32 PM

I was hoping my quoting of "man find" would make
you read it - I guess I was wrong :}

Try something like:

Code:

 
find /data -type f -path '*/data/download/*' -prune -iname "*.mp3", -iname "*.mpg", -iname "*.avi", -iname "*.exe", -iname "*.mpeg", -iname "*.asf", -iname "*.wmv", -iname "*.wma"

I wouldn't suggest going to rm right away ;) ... check whether
it finds all you need first.

Cheers,
Tink

osvaldomarques · 07-16-2004, 10:40 PM

Hi ebasi,
You may use the regex option of the find. For a negation you must use the not expression. In your example, add in your line \( ! -regex '/data/download/.*' \). You also have to put all that "or" expression into parenthesis because you want all the masks which are of type f. So, your expression would be

Code:

find /data/ \(  -iname "*.mp3" -or -iname "*.mpg" -or -iname "*.avi" -or -iname "*.exe" -or -iname "*.mpeg" -or -iname "*.asf" -or -iname "*.wmv" -or -iname "*.wma" \) -type f \( ! -regex '/data/download/.*' \)

I recommend you to read the man page for find.

Good luck.

Tinkster · 07-17-2004, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by osvaldomarques

Code:

find /data/ \(  -iname "*.mp3" -or -iname "*.mpg" -or -iname "*.avi" -or -iname "*.exe" -or -iname "*.mpeg" -or -iname "*.asf" -or -iname "*.wmv" -or -iname "*.wma" \) -type f \( ! -regex '/data/download/.*' \)

Thanks Osvaldo, I learnt something today, and not only
to take my own advice :)

Cheers,
Tink

osvaldomarques · 07-17-2004, 02:12 AM

Hi Tinkster,

Every day we learn something. You're welcome!