Selective file deletion

[SamDurai]

I have many files as below present in a directory.

data.20091009_0915_app.out
data.20091009_0915_db.out
data.20091009_0915_dbm.out
data.20091009_0915_lock.out
data.20091009_0930_app.out
data.20091009_0930_db.out
data.20091009_0930_dbm.out
data.20091009_0930_lock.out
data.20091009_0945_app.out
data.20091009_0945_db.out
data.20091009_0945_dbm.out
data.20091009_0945_lock.out
data.20091009_1000_app.out
data.20091009_1000_db.out
data.20091009_1000_dbm.out
data.20091009_1000_lock.out
data.20091009_1015_app.out
data.20091009_1015_db.out
data.20091009_1015_dbm.out
data.20091009_1015_lock.out
data.20091009_1030_app.out
data.20091009_1030_db.out
data.20091009_1030_dbm.out
data.20091009_1030_lock.out

I would like to retain files only with the pattern "data.*_0945*out and delete rest all the files. How can implement it ?
After cleanup I want only the following 4 files
data.20091009_0945_app.out
data.20091009_0945_db.out
data.20091009_0945_dbm.out
data.20091009_0945_lock.out

 

[jaytco]

Here is a quick and dirty command that will remove all files except what is capured by grep, but you can filter as needed.

for file in `ls | grep -v "data.*_0945"`; do rm $file; done

 

[p5wizard]

[tt]ls|grep -v _0945_|xargs rm[/tt]

OR someting along these lines if you want to verify your actions

[tt]
mkdir _to_remove # make a trashcan
mv * _to_remove # throw everything in it
mv _to_remove/*_0945_* . # pick some files out of it
ls # verify list of current files
rm -r _to_remove # remove trashcan with contents
[/tt]


HTH,

p5wizard

 

[Annihilannic]

If you are using ksh or bash with extended globbing enabled (shopt -s extglob) this should also work:

rm !(data.*_0945*)

Annihilannic.

 

[stefanwagner]

find -not -name "data.*_0945*out" -delete

don't visit my homepage:

http://home.arcor.de/hirnstrom/minis/index.html

 

[Annihilannic]

-not? Hmm... I'd never seen that before. Also you left out the directory to find in. Good idea though... a more POSIX-compliant version is:

find . ! -name "data.*_0945*out" | xargs rm -f

Also beware... it will work on subdirectories if present.

Annihilannic.

 

[p5wizard]

I thought of [tt]find[/tt] also, but it will recurse into subdirs and I don't know from OP if there are (or aren't) any subdirs and - if there are - whether they may be processed in the deletion also.


HTH,

p5wizard

 

[stefanwagner]

find . -maxdepth 1 -not -name "data.*_0945*out" -delete

Since a few months linux gnu-find doesn't need an explicit directory to start anymore, but uses the current.

To prevent subdirs from visits you may use maxdepth.

I don't see the advantage in usage of | xargs rm -f over -delete. Is it to impress other people with pipes? You may - if not executing rm, where -delete exists, often use -exec, -ok or -execdir from find itself,

find . -not -name "data.*_0945*out" -execdir rm -f {} \;

will itereate through subdirs, and call rm -f {} where the filename will replace the braces.

If you end the command with a plus:

find . -not -name "data.*_0945*out" -execdir rm -f {} +

the command (here: rm -f {}) is executed in parallel - maybe sometimes useful for performancereasons.

-ok instead of -execdir will ask you to confirm every command, -exec will call the file from the current directory (with its relativ path, if I remember correclty). Consult your manpage to be sure.

find --version
find (GNU findutils) 4.4.0


don't visit my homepage:

http://home.arcor.de/hirnstrom/minis/index.html

 

[Annihilannic]

Piping to xargs has the same performance improvement effect as using + on the end of GNU find, but is more portable.

Annihilannic.