bash on Linux, delete files with certain file extension

Question

I want to delete all files with a specific extension - ".fal", in a folder and its subfolders, except the one named "*Original.fal". The problem is that I want to delete other files that have the same extension:

*Original.fal.ds
*Original.fal.ds.erg
*Original.fal.ds.erg.neu

There are other ".fal"s that I want to delete as well, that don't have "Original" in them. Names vary all the time, so I can't delete specific names. The *Original.fal doesn't vary.

I can only get up to here:

$find /disk_2/people/z183464/DOE-Wellen -name "*.fal" \! -name "*Original.fal" -type f -exec echo rm {} \;

It would be great if the command can delete only in the folder (and it's subfolders) where it has been called (executed)

When I run the code it gives me an error:

/disk_2/people/z183464/DOE-Wellen: is a directory

Just rename the file you don't want to delete, then do a simple rm, then rename the file back again. — Vicky
– Vicky, Commented May 21, 2013 at 8:32
Your find solution should work fine. The error message seems just because you typed your one-liner on two lines. That -type f-stuff should be on the same line as the stuff above, then it should function. Hint: use -exec echo rm {} \; to see what it would do before actually executing it without the echo. — Alfe
– Alfe, Commented May 21, 2013 at 8:43
Yep, I got it back to the first line, but the first error still stays. How can I do the same, without specifying the folder, but do it instead in the folder that it's being executed (called) — Vihar
– Vihar, Commented May 21, 2013 at 8:51
Aside from the pointers others have given, I want to point out : ".fal" is not what you want. that gets files ending in .fal. In other words, only *Original.fal would match. You probably want ".fal.*" which will actually get all files that contain '.fal.' -- IOW, it will select all of the items you listed but not "*Original.fal". — kampu
– kampu, Commented May 21, 2013 at 8:51

choroba · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-21 08:16:02Z

3

If you do not want find to dive too deep, you can restrict it with -maxdepth.

answered May 21, 2013 at 8:16

choroba

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15 Comments

choroba Over a year ago

@Vihar: Well, the question changed :-) You have to backslash the exclamation mark, it is a special character in bash (related to history expansion).

Vihar Over a year ago

Yes it did change :) I've tried with \ before and after the exclamation mark - still the same...

choroba Over a year ago

@Vihar: Putting a backslash after the exclamation mark quotes the space. Before shoudl be enough.

Vihar Over a year ago

I was saying i tried both. I had a mistake, putting -type on the next line, so the second error is gone now. But the first one stays even with the backslash before the exclamation mark.

choroba Over a year ago

@Vihar: Move the -type condition before the negation.

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skolem · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-21 08:32:42Z

0

You can use a simple for loop for that. This command shows all the files you might want to delete. Change echo with rm to delete them.

cd /disk_2/people/z183464/DOE-Wellen && for I in `find . -name "*.fal" ! -name "*Original.fal"`; do echo $I; done

With "find ... | grep ..." you can use regex too, if you need more flexibility.

answered May 21, 2013 at 8:32

skolem

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1 Comment

Vihar Over a year ago

When I run the code it gives me: /disk_2/people/z183464/DOE-Wellen: is a directory

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