rm files only

schneidz · 11-21-2005, 09:50 AM

hi, i am trying to recurse into directories and delete only files.

Code:

 cat set-share.bash
#!/bin/bash

for line in "`find nov`"
 do
# echo "$line"
 rm "$line"
 done
 set-share.bash
...
nov/stuff/folder - two/link to file.lnk
nov/Projects/name - of - directory
nov/Projects/RE  access.msg
nov/Security: A file or path name is too long.
 find nov | wc -l
     235
# to find the longest fine-name
 find nov | cut -b 50- | more
nov/Projects/very long project name/very long project name - very long project requirements description_11-21-05.xls
 longname="nov/Projects/very long project name/very long project name - very long project requirements description_11-21-05.xls"
 rm "$longname"   #works

can someone explain why this is failing or have a better idea,
thanks,

Mad Scientist · 11-21-2005, 10:22 AM

This might be a show of my ignorance, but does

Code:

rm -r

not work?

schneidz · 11-21-2005, 10:26 AM

no, that will blast away files as well as the directory names they are under. i want to preserve directories.

thanks amways,

schneidz · 11-21-2005, 10:33 AM

because of the quotes around "`find nov`" it considers all 235 lines one long file-name. but without the quotes file-names with spaces will get truncated. is there another way to 'wrap' file-names that contain spaces?

Hko · 11-21-2005, 11:10 AM

Just this does the trick, without problems with filenames containing spaces:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

find nov -type f -exec rm -v '{}' \;

(it's the option "type -f" that tells "find" to only output regular files, i.e. not directories)

schneidz · 11-21-2005, 11:32 AM

that did it hko,

my 'rm' doesns't have '-v' - i dunno what that is. (works without it)

later,

Hko · 11-21-2005, 01:37 PM

'-v' just makes 'rm' output what it's doing (removing files)

ioerror · 11-22-2005, 02:37 PM

If you used zsh, you could simply do rm -f **/*(.).

zahadumy · 11-26-2005, 07:24 PM

Maybe it's too late and you already solved it, but if not, here is my solution:

Code:

find >zzz
while read x
do
  rm `file $x | grep -v "directory" | cut -d":" -f1` 2>/dev/null
done <zzz

You just have to copy this is the directory and it will erase all the files in that directory, including itself!

eddiebaby1023 · 11-27-2005, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zahadumy
Maybe it's too late and you already solved it, but if not, here is my solution:

Code:

find >zzz while read x do rm `file $x | grep -v "directory" | cut -d":" -f1` 2>/dev/null done <zzz

You just have to copy this is the directory and it will erase all the files in that directory, including itself!

You like to complicate things, don't you? Hko's one-liner is all you need. Use the right tools for the job, and use them properly.