[SOLVED] rm - delete list of files and directories from .txt file?

peter7089 · 01-17-2017, 09:39 AM

I have a .txt file with paths to files and directories that i want to delete. Is it possible to use the rm, or other command, and delete the files and folders that are inside this file? Somehow the delete command to be able to read the information from this .txt file.

Drakeo · 01-17-2017, 10:04 AM

rm -rf /your/directory/*.txt
every file that ends in .txt will be deleted

Habitual · 01-17-2017, 10:06 AM

Code:

for i in `foo`; do bar; done

agillator · 01-17-2017, 10:07 AM

There is no single command I am aware of. It is simple enough to convert the text file to a script, though, if it contains only the list of full paths to remove. Open a copy of the file for editing in an editor (I use vim, emacs will work, or any number of others). Do a mass search and replace on the lines containing the paths or filenames to add 'rm' and a space at the beginning of each line (or rm -i and a space to be prompted before each removal). Add a 'shebang' (#!/bin/bash) as the first line. Then close the file, chmod to make it executable and execute it. Sounds complicated but really isn't if you know how to do the search and replace in the editor you are using. If you have vim loaded on your computer I can give you a specific list of the actions if you wish and have never done something like this before.

Habitual method is simpler, much simpler, by the way.

schneidz · 01-17-2017, 10:07 AM

[untested]:

Code:

rm `cat files-to-delete.lst`

alternatively:

Code:

cat files-to-delete.lst | while read f
do
 rm $f
done

suicidaleggroll · 01-17-2017, 10:14 AM

This is what xargs is built for

Code:

cat "files.txt" | xargs rm

Spaces in the filenames will cause problems though, if that's an issue you'll probably want to loop and use quotes in your rm.

Habitual · 01-17-2017, 10:18 AM

Measure with a micrometer.
Mark it with chalk.
Cut it with an axe.
I love Linux.

This is one of my cornerstone go-to bash nuggets:

Code:

for i in `cat file` ; do rm -fr $i ; done

See also http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/varassignment.html

grail · 01-17-2017, 10:22 AM

For all those using for loops, I hope there is no white space in the names or paths to be deleted .. or this could get ugly from errors or the wrong thing being deleted real fast

szboardstretcher · 01-17-2017, 10:30 AM

Have a pretty good explanation of how to do this over here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...7/#post5639390

Just change the cp to mv or rm as needed.

peter7089 · 01-17-2017, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agillator

There is no single command I am aware of. It is simple enough to convert the text file to a script, though, if it contains only the list of full paths to remove. Open a copy of the file for editing in an editor (I use vim, emacs will work, or any number of others). Do a mass search and replace on the lines containing the paths or filenames to add 'rm' and a space at the beginning of each line (or rm -i and a space to be prompted before each removal). Add a 'shebang' (#!/bin/bash) as the first line. Then close the file, chmod to make it executable and execute it. Sounds complicated but really isn't if you know how to do the search and replace in the editor you are using. If you have vim loaded on your computer I can give you a specific list of the actions if you wish and have never done something like this before.

Habitual method is simpler, much simpler, by the way.

Can i uninstall a package this way? For example, if i run "locate 'package-name' > file.txt" and then convert the file.txt file to script can i uninstall the package manually?

Habitual · 01-17-2017, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peter7089

Can i uninstall a package this way?

You can, "sort of", but I don't recommend it.

http://xyproblem.info/
and https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2349683

It's best that you don't.

grail · 01-17-2017, 11:43 AM

Question would be why you would even want to? Think about it like this, if we used you locate idea on the gawk package for my machine, you would remove 36 files of the 116 installed for that one package.
As you can see, this is not ideal.

Perhaps you could explain further what your actual question is? (as pointed out above the xyproblem is a good read for you)

agillator · 01-17-2017, 01:32 PM

By a package do you mean an installation from a distribution's repositories? If so and you installed it by that distribution's package manager, you should use that package manager to remove it. If you are talking about something else then as others have asked, exactly what are you talking about? You are starting to edge into areas that could do nasty things to your system if your aren't careful or if someone thinks you are talking about one thing and you are actually asking about something else.