[nycbug-talk] Deleting Lots of Files.

N.J. Thomas njt at ayvali.org
Wed Jun 21 10:56:53 EDT 2006


* Hans Kaspersetz <lamolist at cyberxdesigns.com> [2006-06-21 10:44:01 -0400]:
> I was wondering what the best way to delete lots of files is.
> 
> I would like to delete all the files in the 114* series.  However, when 
> I pass rm -f ./114*, I get to many arguments as an error.  What I really 
> want to delete is all files from before June.

See find(1), xargs(1).

You can use the -name "114*" arg for find to get all the 114* files or
the "-mtime -16" to get the files before June (but also see the -newer
option).

Then just use something like "xargs -n 50 echo rm" (run with echo first
to see what is to be deleted).

I strongly suggest you learn find and xargs thoroughly, they are very
useful tools.

Thomas

-- 
N.J. Thomas
njt at ayvali.org
Etiamsi occiderit me, in ipso sperabo



More information about the talk mailing list