Rm use text file to delete files

Fixit7 · 01-18-2016, 07:53 PM

I had an ark installation that did not work and left many files in it's wake.

I have a list of files to delete.

Is there a way for rm to use that list to delete the files ?

frankbell · 01-18-2016, 09:19 PM

Yes, but depending on the number of files, it might be time-consuming:

Code:

rm /path/to/file    <---remove an individual file
rm -r /path/to/directory   <----remove a directory and its contents recursively

If the list of files contains the paths to the files in question, it might be possible to script something so that you could start the script and walk away.

If the list of files does not include the paths to them, you can use the locate command to find them.

Depending on the ownership of the files, you may have to be root to do this.

Fixit7 · 01-18-2016, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell

Yes, but depending on the number of files, it might be time-consuming:

Code:

rm /path/to/file    <---remove an individual file
rm -r /path/to/directory   <----remove a directory and its contents recursively

If the list of files contains the paths to the files in question, it might be possible to script something so that you could start the script and walk away.

If the list of files does not include the paths to them, you can use the locate command to find them.

Depending on the ownership of the files, you may have to be root to do this.

Thanks.

Puppy Linux always runs as root.

rknichols · 01-18-2016, 09:52 PM

If it's a list of files with full paths:

Code:

rm $(cat listing_file) </dev/null

or, if the list is so large that the argument list becomes too long:

Code:

xargs rm <listing_file

The "</dev/null" redirection in that first option is so that you don't get prompted for files without write permission. It's not needed in the second option since stdin for the rm command will already be /dev/null.

If the list includes directories, then you would be better off using find with the "-delete" action, which works for both files and directories:

Code:

find $(cat listing_file) -delete

but I don't know how you could get the xargs version of that to work.

Fixit7 · 01-18-2016, 10:10 PM

Thanks.