Keep specific file types, delete the rest ?

jchambers · 11-26-2007, 04:54 PM

Hello, I bet someone has asked this before but I can't find the answer...

I am trying to keep only certain file types and delete the rest.

Code:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root        0 2007-11-26 06:41 file_a.wmv
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root        0 2007-11-26 06:41 file_b.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root        0 2007-11-26 06:41 file_c.sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root        0 2007-11-26 06:41 file_d.mov
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root        0 2007-11-26 06:42 file_e.whatever

My goal is to delete b,c,e and keep wmv & mov

rm -f /path/to/folder/*^[wmv|mov]

Is there anything like this that will work?

My other alternative is to temporarily move all the wanted files out of that folder delete all then move them back. But I would imagine there is a simpler way.

rsashok · 11-26-2007, 05:19 PM

Code:

for file in `ls | grep -v -E 'wmv|mov'`;do echo rm -f $file;done

If this displays what you want, then remove 'echo'.

jchambers · 11-26-2007, 05:25 PM

Wow, that is nice an simple.
( I need to learn more about grep )

Perfect !

Thank you for the help rsashok.

matthewg42 · 11-26-2007, 05:27 PM

The find syntax to list the files whose names do not match *.mov or *.wmv is a little ugly, but it'll work:

Code:

find . -type f \! \( -iname \*.wmv -o -iname \*.mov \)

You can also use regexps with find, although the GNU find uses the emacs-style regexp's which require even more than normal escaping with the \ character:

Code:

find . -type f \! -iregex '.*\(wmv\|mov\)'

You can append "-exec rm {} \;" to remove them, or use xargs if you prefer. xargs will be faster if you have a very large number of files. It is probably prudent to add the -print0 / -0 options to prevent file names with spaces causing problems:

Code:

find . -type f \! -iregex '.*\(wmv\|mov\)' -print0 |xargs -0 rm

pixellany · 11-26-2007, 05:38 PM

AND--just for variety:

ls|egrep -v 'f1|f2'|xargs rm -f

removes all files except f1 and f2

Note that "egrep" and "grep -E" are synonymous

jchambers · 11-26-2007, 06:25 PM

Bonus round... thanks for the extra tips.
I am trying those as well.

pixellany -- funny signature