[SOLVED] [bash] find -exec does not execute correctly...

RaptorX · 09-11-2009, 01:21 PM

Hi guys,

can somebody explain me why:

having a folder with

temp
+
+--->temp.ai
+--->temp.eps

Code:

find . -name "*.ai" -o -name "*.eps" -exec rm {} \;

ends up with:

temp
+
+--->temp.ai

the regex is actually working, but only for half of it... :S

druuna · 09-11-2009, 01:32 PM

Hi,

You use an OR statement for the -name options, they need to be 'grouped'. This will solve the problem:

find . \( -name "*.ai" -o -name "*.eps" \) -exec ls {} \;

The ls is for testing, change to rm when you are happy.

Hope this helps.

catkin · 09-11-2009, 01:33 PM

Permissions? Try putting an echo in front of the rm to find out if find is issuing the commands.

RaptorX · 09-11-2009, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by druuna

Hi,

You use an OR statement for the -name options, they need to be 'grouped'. This will solve the problem:

find . \( -name "*.ai" -o -name "*.eps" \) -exec ls {} \;

The ls is for testing, change to rm when you are happy.

Hope this helps.

that did the trick... the confusion came because

Code:

find . -name "*.ai" -o -name "*.eps"

returns temp.ai AND temp.eps... so I thought it was logical to just add the -exec part but it seems to be that the exec only applies to the last expression... unless we group it like you pointed out (which I was not aware that had to be done).

Thanks for the help!