Delete all .log files and .bat files except the most recent?

alancampbell6 · 12-15-2011, 08:18 AM

I have a directory with multiple .log files and multiple .bat files.

1. I want to delete all .log files.

2 I want to delete all .bat files except the most recently created one.

Any ideas on how i could do this?

thesnow · 12-15-2011, 08:52 AM

You haven't mentioned whether you need to do this on a repeated basis (script), so this assumes you don't. Also assumes you are in the directory containing the files.

1. rm *.log

2a.

Code:

ls -latr *.bat

2b. This will give a list of all bat files, most recent is listed last
2c.

Code:

for i in `find ./*.bat | grep -v "whatever bat file you want to keep"`; do rm $i; done

Or, you could just temporarily rename/move the one bat file you want to keep, delete the remaining ones, and move it back. Before I run something like 2c I usually put "echo" or "ls" in place of "rm" to see that it's giving me what I expect. Then, once absolutely sure it's right, run it with the "rm" (since once you hit Enter on the rm there's no going back).

catkin · 12-15-2011, 09:11 AM

Is this a homework question?

EDIT:

Never mind, an answer has already been given.

An alternative for the .bat files:

Code:

echo rm "$( /bin/ls -1t *.bat | head -n-1 )"

Notes:

That's a number 1 in ls -1t, not a letter l.
When you are confident it is generating the correct rm command, remove the echo.

Cedrik · 12-15-2011, 09:17 AM

Or there is always logrotate to manage log files

Code:

man logrotate