[SOLVED] Find a File delete out different file in same directory

HardenedCriminal · 05-23-2015, 03:31 PM

I am trying to search for SOMEFILE and in every sub directory where SOMEFILE exist wipe out a DIFFERENTFILE.

Just can't get the end part right or need more steps.

Thanks to all in advance.

----------------------
#!/bin/bash

cd /etc/somewhere/ && find . -name 'somefile' -exec wipe -r -s {} \;

asimba · 05-23-2015, 03:52 PM

{} substitutes filename - try fiddling with that.

John VV · 05-23-2015, 04:09 PM

if A then delete B

What if B is not there

you are only looking for A .......

schneidz · 05-23-2015, 04:09 PM

maybe you can pipe something like this into xargs:

Code:

find . -name 'somefile' -printf "%h/file-to-delete \n"

HardenedCriminal · 05-23-2015, 04:11 PM

thanks will try.

HardenedCriminal · 05-23-2015, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John VV

if A then delete B

What if B is not there

you are only looking for A .......

Yes I am only looking for SOMEFILE that is in multiple sub-directories (many copies, same name) but only in those sub-directories do I want to wipe DIFFERENTFILE

Beryllos · 05-27-2015, 07:02 PM

The find command has an -execdir option that could do what you want. In the following example, I created directories named 1, 2, 3, and 4, containing files named a and b. The find command with -execdir deletes b only in directories which contain a.

Code:

$ find . -type d    # This shows the directories.
.
./4
./1
./3
./2
$ find . -type f    # This shows the files we started with.
./4/b
./1/a
./1/b
./3/b
./2/a
./2/b
$ find . -name a -execdir rm -v b \;    # This finds some files and deletes other files.
removed `b'
removed `b'
$ find . -type f    # This shows the files which are left.
./4/b
./1/a
./3/b
./2/a
$ find . -name a -execdir rm -v b \;    # Error message if b does not exist.
rm: cannot remove `b': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `b': No such file or directory
$

HardenedCriminal · 05-27-2015, 08:41 PM

Thanks just what I needed.

joec@home · 06-04-2015, 05:30 PM

Safety First, display only

Code:

echo 'Search For?' ;\
read SEARCH ;\
echo 'Remove?' ;\
read REMOVE ;\
for i in $(find . $SEARCH 2>/dev/null |grep $SEARCH| sed s/$SEARCH//g); do \
echo $i$REMOVE ;\
done

Remove the unwanted files

Code:

echo 'Search For?' ;\
read SEARCH ;\
echo 'Remove?' ;\
read REMOVE ;\
for i in $(find . $SEARCH 2>/dev/null |grep $SEARCH| sed s/$SEARCH//g); do \
rm $i$REMOVE 2>/dev/null ;\
done

Granted this will delete $REMOVE even if the file does not exist, but the error message is dumped into /dev/null. Also not that the use of ";" allows this to be cut and paste into shell so it does not need to be saved as a file to be executed.

HardenedCriminal · 06-04-2015, 07:28 PM

Thanks that's great.