exclude files with RM

[sandeepmur]

Hi,

I am deleting some old files in the fwg manner:

touch 200506271823 /home/temp/tempdate.txt
rm `find . ! -newer /home/temp/tempdate.txt -type f`

The above works perfectly but I have a small problem.. There are some files in the current dir which I dont want to delete.

How can I "exclude" them in my rm command ?

thnx

 

[PHV]

Something like this ?
rm `find . ! -newer /home/temp/tempdate.txt -type f | grep -v -f /path/to/ListOfExcludedFiles`

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ181-2886

 

[sandeepmur]

unfortunately, its not getting the desired output.. I followed your suggestion and copied the files that I do not want to delete in to a temp dir, but executing the above cmd still deletes the files anyway..ie, the grep portion of the cmd is being ignored...

thnx

 

[PHV]

I strongly suggest you man grep if you want to properly try my previous post.

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ181-2886

 

[SamBones]

In the Korn shell you can use a negative patter match. That is, you can match on everything except a list of patterns.

For example, if you were in a directory and wanted to delete every file EXCEPT [tt]*.sh[/tt], [tt]*.c[/tt], [tt]*.h[/tt], [tt]*.txt[/tt], and [tt]a*[/tt] (just for example), you would do the following...

rm !(*.sh|*.c|*.h|*.txt|a*)

You should test it with an [tt]ls[/tt] before doing the [tt]rm[/tt].

Hope this helps.