Linux command help

123music · 07-04-2011, 09:35 AM

Hi,

I need help for one linux command. Its all about deleting files.

I have the directory structure as root/folder1/folder2/folder3.All these directories has subdirectories as well.
I want to delete all files except the files with extension .txt and .xml in folder2 and folder3. However folder1 should be untouched.

Please give me a linux command for this so that i can execute from root directory.

Thanks

allez · 07-04-2011, 10:20 AM

You may use find. This example deletes *.txt files from directory root/folder1/folder2/ and its subdirectories:

Code:

find root/folder1/folder2/ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec rm {} \;

You may also use this command in such a form:

Code:

find root/folder1/folder2/ -type f -name "*.txt" -delete

Any further information you can get from man find.

123music · 07-04-2011, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allez

You may use find. This example deletes *.txt files from directory root/folder1/folder2/ and its subdirectories:

Code:

find root/folder1/folder2/ -type f -name "*.txt" -exec rm {} \;

You may also use this command in such a form:

Code:

find root/folder1/folder2/ -type f -name "*.txt" -delete

Any further information you can get from man find.

Hi,
Thanks for the command.

But what should i do if root has N no.of directories. I think its difficult to specify in find command. Is there a dynamic way where it searches all directories by itself?

Also i dont want *.txt files to be deleted. Actually in my directories i have files with several extensions like *.o, *.txt, *.exe, *.tmp, *.xml, *.rm, *.i etc..etc..
I want all files except *.txt and *.xml to be deleted.

Please help me.

Thanks

MTK358 · 07-04-2011, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 123music

Is there a dynamic way where it searches all directories by itself?

Didn't you say that you want "folder1" untouched? allez's command will delete files in folder2 and any of its subdirectories.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 123music

Also i dont want *.txt files to be deleted. Actually in my directories i have files with several extensions like *.o, *.txt, *.exe, *.tmp, *.xml, *.rm, *.i etc..etc..
I want all files except *.txt and *.xml to be deleted.

Code:

find root/folder1/folder2 -regextype posix-extended -type f -not -regex '.*\.(txt|xml)' -delete

lithos · 07-07-2011, 02:39 AM

Hi,

I'm sorry for late post, but I thought that some explanation about excluding would be nice as of here.

colucix · 07-07-2011, 02:50 AM

A little add-on to MTK358's suggestion to be sure you don't delete files inside folder1:

Code:

find root/folder1 -regextype posix-extended -type f -not -regex '.*\.(txt|xml)' -not -regex 'folder1/[^/]+$' -delete

Warning: test the command without -delete to check if the results are correct.

MTK358 · 07-07-2011, 08:30 AM

How can my command delete anything in folder1 in the first place?

colucix · 07-07-2011, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTK358

How can my command delete anything in folder1 in the first place?

Indeed it can't. I just wonder about the presence of any other directory at the same level of folder2. Note that the search path in my command is one level up. This is because the OP provided a not-realistic example (and he stated "all these directories have subdirectories as well") but the actual situation could be more complex, so it's better to be cautious, especially when they want to remove files without knowing all the caveats implied in what they are doing.

onebuck · 07-07-2011, 05:36 PM

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 123music

Hi,

I need help for one linux command. Its all about deleting files.

I have the directory structure as root/folder1/folder2/folder3.All these directories has subdirectories as well.
I want to delete all files except the files with extension .txt and .xml in folder2 and folder3. However folder1 should be untouched.

Please give me a linux command for this so that i can execute from root directory.

Thanks

Other members have provided you with good advice.
I do suggest that you look at links 2 & 3 below to hopefully expose you to some useful information.

FYI: I suggest that you look at 'How to Ask Questions the Smart Way' so in the future your queries provide information that will aid us in diagnosis of the problem or query.

Just a few links to aid you to gaining some understanding;

  1 Linux Documentation Project 
2 Rute Tutorial & Exposition 
3 Linux Command Guide  
4 Bash Beginners Guide 
5 Bash Reference Manual 
6 Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide 
7 Linux Newbie Admin Guide 
8 LinuxSelfHelp 
9 Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
10 Linux Home Networking
11 Virtualization- Top 10

The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We Know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it."- Samuel Johnson