How to remove all files starting with a certain string in Linux

I need to find all files starting with the name NAME in a directory tree and remove all these files using one shell command.

edited Oct 2 '12 at 14:36

slhck

162k47449471

asked Oct 2 '12 at 12:18

Achini Pumika

156124

migrated from stackoverflow.com Oct 2 '12 at 13:40

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

add a comment |

I need to find all files starting with the name NAME in a directory tree and remove all these files using one shell command.

edited Oct 2 '12 at 14:36

slhck

162k47449471

asked Oct 2 '12 at 12:18

Achini Pumika

156124

migrated from stackoverflow.com Oct 2 '12 at 13:40

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

add a comment |

I need to find all files starting with the name NAME in a directory tree and remove all these files using one shell command.

edited Oct 2 '12 at 14:36

slhck

162k47449471

asked Oct 2 '12 at 12:18

Achini Pumika

156124

I need to find all files starting with the name NAME in a directory tree and remove all these files using one shell command.

linux bash

edited Oct 2 '12 at 14:36

slhck

162k47449471

asked Oct 2 '12 at 12:18

Achini Pumika

156124

edited Oct 2 '12 at 14:36

slhck

162k47449471

asked Oct 2 '12 at 12:18

Achini Pumika

156124

edited Oct 2 '12 at 14:36

slhck

162k47449471

edited Oct 2 '12 at 14:36

slhck

162k47449471

edited Oct 2 '12 at 14:36

slhck

162k47449471

asked Oct 2 '12 at 12:18

Achini Pumika

156124

asked Oct 2 '12 at 12:18

Achini Pumika

156124

asked Oct 2 '12 at 12:18

Achini Pumika

156124

migrated from stackoverflow.com Oct 2 '12 at 13:40

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

migrated from stackoverflow.com Oct 2 '12 at 13:40

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

add a comment |

7 Answers
7

active

oldest

votes

to delete all files which name has name--- you can use

find -name . 'name*' -exec rm {} ;

edited Oct 10 '12 at 12:14

Community♦

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:48

Dharshana

1

You can also add -f as an 'rm' argument so you don't get prompted for "Are you sure you want to remove X file?"

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:01

Which version of grep has an -exec switch?

– Ben Graham
Oct 3 '12 at 2:55

Why does this comment have downvotes?

– Ultrasonic54321
Jan 30 at 17:07

add a comment |

Delete all files in current directory and its sub-directories where the file name starts with "foo":

$ find . -type f -name foo* -exec rm {} ;

NB: use with caution - back up first - also do a dry run first, e.g.

$ find . -type f -name foo*

will just tell you the names of the files that would be deleted.

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:19

Paul R

4,31611727

4

I had to delete over 2Million files and run in to trouble, find . -type f -name foo* -delete did the trick

– Linas
Jan 25 '14 at 13:30

add a comment |

I have tried this way it is working for me try below command.

rm -rf Example*

here "Example" is text which is common for all files.

answered Jul 28 '16 at 10:51

Dinesh Bhojvani

24923

add a comment |

You can use find:

find . -name "name*" -exec rm {} ;

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:22

P.P.

45648

Also instead of specifying '.' you can specify an absolute path.

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:02

add a comment |

With the globstar option (enable with shopt -s globstar):

rm -f **/NAME*

**/ expands to ./, */, */*/, */*/*/ etc. If you have a directory name starting with NAME, the command will complain that rm can't remove directories, but that's all.

Notice that this might run into command line length limitations if the glob matches many files.

Alternatively, with as few invocations of rm as possible, but not subject to any command line length limitations:

find . -type f -name 'NAME*' -exec rm -f {} +

(Notice the + instead of ; to close the -exec statement.)

edited Jan 30 at 17:05

answered Feb 24 '17 at 3:17

Benjamin W.

17918

add a comment |

find . -name 'foo'* -type f -delete seems like the simplest answer.

You can run this without the -delete flag before to see which files will be deleted.

answered Aug 27 '18 at 16:28

Yehuda Schwartz

1212

add a comment |

-2

Search for the "Inode" number of the file/folder and then delete using inode number. Below is an example:

ls -il

3407873 drwxr-xr-x. 2 root   root      4096 Mar 30 07:49 –p



find . -inum 3407873 -exec rm -rf {} ;

edited Mar 30 '15 at 6:12

bummi

1,47931422

answered Mar 30 '15 at 6:04

Diwa

This is a good answer — to a different question. It’s not an answer to this question.

– Scott
Oct 26 '18 at 4:33

add a comment |

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7 Answers
7

active

oldest

votes

7 Answers
7

active

oldest

votes

to delete all files which name has name--- you can use

find -name . 'name*' -exec rm {} ;

edited Oct 10 '12 at 12:14

Community♦

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:48

Dharshana

1

You can also add -f as an 'rm' argument so you don't get prompted for "Are you sure you want to remove X file?"

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:01

Which version of grep has an -exec switch?

– Ben Graham
Oct 3 '12 at 2:55

Why does this comment have downvotes?

– Ultrasonic54321
Jan 30 at 17:07

add a comment |

to delete all files which name has name--- you can use

find -name . 'name*' -exec rm {} ;

edited Oct 10 '12 at 12:14

Community♦

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:48

Dharshana

1

You can also add -f as an 'rm' argument so you don't get prompted for "Are you sure you want to remove X file?"

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:01

Which version of grep has an -exec switch?

– Ben Graham
Oct 3 '12 at 2:55

Why does this comment have downvotes?

– Ultrasonic54321
Jan 30 at 17:07

add a comment |

to delete all files which name has name--- you can use

find -name . 'name*' -exec rm {} ;

edited Oct 10 '12 at 12:14

Community♦

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:48

Dharshana

to delete all files which name has name--- you can use

find -name . 'name*' -exec rm {} ;

edited Oct 10 '12 at 12:14

Community♦

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:48

Dharshana

edited Oct 10 '12 at 12:14

Community♦

edited Oct 10 '12 at 12:14

Community♦

edited Oct 10 '12 at 12:14

Community♦

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:48

Dharshana

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:48

Dharshana

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:48

Dharshana

1

You can also add -f as an 'rm' argument so you don't get prompted for "Are you sure you want to remove X file?"

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:01

Which version of grep has an -exec switch?

– Ben Graham
Oct 3 '12 at 2:55

Why does this comment have downvotes?

– Ultrasonic54321
Jan 30 at 17:07

add a comment |

1

You can also add -f as an 'rm' argument so you don't get prompted for "Are you sure you want to remove X file?"

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:01

Which version of grep has an -exec switch?

– Ben Graham
Oct 3 '12 at 2:55

Why does this comment have downvotes?

– Ultrasonic54321
Jan 30 at 17:07

You can also add -f as an 'rm' argument so you don't get prompted for "Are you sure you want to remove X file?"

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:01

Which version of grep has an -exec switch?

– Ben Graham
Oct 3 '12 at 2:55

Why does this comment have downvotes?

– Ultrasonic54321
Jan 30 at 17:07

add a comment |

Delete all files in current directory and its sub-directories where the file name starts with "foo":

$ find . -type f -name foo* -exec rm {} ;

NB: use with caution - back up first - also do a dry run first, e.g.

$ find . -type f -name foo*

will just tell you the names of the files that would be deleted.

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:19

Paul R

4,31611727

4

I had to delete over 2Million files and run in to trouble, find . -type f -name foo* -delete did the trick

– Linas
Jan 25 '14 at 13:30

add a comment |

Delete all files in current directory and its sub-directories where the file name starts with "foo":

$ find . -type f -name foo* -exec rm {} ;

NB: use with caution - back up first - also do a dry run first, e.g.

$ find . -type f -name foo*

will just tell you the names of the files that would be deleted.

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:19

Paul R

4,31611727

4

I had to delete over 2Million files and run in to trouble, find . -type f -name foo* -delete did the trick

– Linas
Jan 25 '14 at 13:30

add a comment |

Delete all files in current directory and its sub-directories where the file name starts with "foo":

$ find . -type f -name foo* -exec rm {} ;

NB: use with caution - back up first - also do a dry run first, e.g.

$ find . -type f -name foo*

will just tell you the names of the files that would be deleted.

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:19

Paul R

4,31611727

Delete all files in current directory and its sub-directories where the file name starts with "foo":

$ find . -type f -name foo* -exec rm {} ;

NB: use with caution - back up first - also do a dry run first, e.g.

$ find . -type f -name foo*

will just tell you the names of the files that would be deleted.

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:19

Paul R

4,31611727

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:19

Paul R

4,31611727

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:19

Paul R

4,31611727

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:19

Paul R

4,31611727

4

I had to delete over 2Million files and run in to trouble, find . -type f -name foo* -delete did the trick

– Linas
Jan 25 '14 at 13:30

add a comment |

4

I had to delete over 2Million files and run in to trouble, find . -type f -name foo* -delete did the trick

– Linas
Jan 25 '14 at 13:30

I had to delete over 2Million files and run in to trouble, find . -type f -name foo* -delete did the trick

– Linas
Jan 25 '14 at 13:30

add a comment |

I have tried this way it is working for me try below command.

rm -rf Example*

here "Example" is text which is common for all files.

answered Jul 28 '16 at 10:51

Dinesh Bhojvani

24923

add a comment |

I have tried this way it is working for me try below command.

rm -rf Example*

here "Example" is text which is common for all files.

answered Jul 28 '16 at 10:51

Dinesh Bhojvani

24923

add a comment |

I have tried this way it is working for me try below command.

rm -rf Example*

here "Example" is text which is common for all files.

answered Jul 28 '16 at 10:51

Dinesh Bhojvani

24923

I have tried this way it is working for me try below command.

rm -rf Example*

here "Example" is text which is common for all files.

answered Jul 28 '16 at 10:51

Dinesh Bhojvani

24923

answered Jul 28 '16 at 10:51

Dinesh Bhojvani

24923

answered Jul 28 '16 at 10:51

Dinesh Bhojvani

24923

answered Jul 28 '16 at 10:51

Dinesh Bhojvani

24923

add a comment |

You can use find:

find . -name "name*" -exec rm {} ;

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:22

P.P.

45648

Also instead of specifying '.' you can specify an absolute path.

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:02

add a comment |

You can use find:

find . -name "name*" -exec rm {} ;

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:22

P.P.

45648

Also instead of specifying '.' you can specify an absolute path.

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:02

add a comment |

You can use find:

find . -name "name*" -exec rm {} ;

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:22

P.P.

45648

You can use find:

find . -name "name*" -exec rm {} ;

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:22

P.P.

45648

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:22

P.P.

45648

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:22

P.P.

45648

answered Oct 2 '12 at 12:22

P.P.

45648

Also instead of specifying '.' you can specify an absolute path.

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:02

add a comment |

Also instead of specifying '.' you can specify an absolute path.

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:02

Also instead of specifying '.' you can specify an absolute path.

– UtahJarhead
Oct 2 '12 at 14:02

add a comment |

With the globstar option (enable with shopt -s globstar):

rm -f **/NAME*

**/ expands to ./, */, */*/, */*/*/ etc. If you have a directory name starting with NAME, the command will complain that rm can't remove directories, but that's all.

Notice that this might run into command line length limitations if the glob matches many files.

Alternatively, with as few invocations of rm as possible, but not subject to any command line length limitations:

find . -type f -name 'NAME*' -exec rm -f {} +

(Notice the + instead of ; to close the -exec statement.)

edited Jan 30 at 17:05

answered Feb 24 '17 at 3:17

Benjamin W.

17918

add a comment |

With the globstar option (enable with shopt -s globstar):

rm -f **/NAME*

**/ expands to ./, */, */*/, */*/*/ etc. If you have a directory name starting with NAME, the command will complain that rm can't remove directories, but that's all.

Notice that this might run into command line length limitations if the glob matches many files.

Alternatively, with as few invocations of rm as possible, but not subject to any command line length limitations:

find . -type f -name 'NAME*' -exec rm -f {} +

(Notice the + instead of ; to close the -exec statement.)

edited Jan 30 at 17:05

answered Feb 24 '17 at 3:17

Benjamin W.

17918

add a comment |

With the globstar option (enable with shopt -s globstar):

rm -f **/NAME*

**/ expands to ./, */, */*/, */*/*/ etc. If you have a directory name starting with NAME, the command will complain that rm can't remove directories, but that's all.

Notice that this might run into command line length limitations if the glob matches many files.

Alternatively, with as few invocations of rm as possible, but not subject to any command line length limitations:

find . -type f -name 'NAME*' -exec rm -f {} +

(Notice the + instead of ; to close the -exec statement.)

edited Jan 30 at 17:05

answered Feb 24 '17 at 3:17

Benjamin W.

17918

With the globstar option (enable with shopt -s globstar):

rm -f **/NAME*

**/ expands to ./, */, */*/, */*/*/ etc. If you have a directory name starting with NAME, the command will complain that rm can't remove directories, but that's all.

Notice that this might run into command line length limitations if the glob matches many files.

Alternatively, with as few invocations of rm as possible, but not subject to any command line length limitations:

find . -type f -name 'NAME*' -exec rm -f {} +

(Notice the + instead of ; to close the -exec statement.)

edited Jan 30 at 17:05

answered Feb 24 '17 at 3:17

Benjamin W.

17918

edited Jan 30 at 17:05

answered Feb 24 '17 at 3:17

Benjamin W.

17918

answered Feb 24 '17 at 3:17

Benjamin W.

17918

answered Feb 24 '17 at 3:17

Benjamin W.

17918

add a comment |

find . -name 'foo'* -type f -delete seems like the simplest answer.

You can run this without the -delete flag before to see which files will be deleted.

answered Aug 27 '18 at 16:28

Yehuda Schwartz

1212

add a comment |

find . -name 'foo'* -type f -delete seems like the simplest answer.

You can run this without the -delete flag before to see which files will be deleted.

answered Aug 27 '18 at 16:28

Yehuda Schwartz

1212

add a comment |

find . -name 'foo'* -type f -delete seems like the simplest answer.

You can run this without the -delete flag before to see which files will be deleted.

answered Aug 27 '18 at 16:28

Yehuda Schwartz

1212

find . -name 'foo'* -type f -delete seems like the simplest answer.

You can run this without the -delete flag before to see which files will be deleted.

answered Aug 27 '18 at 16:28

Yehuda Schwartz

1212

answered Aug 27 '18 at 16:28

Yehuda Schwartz

1212

answered Aug 27 '18 at 16:28

Yehuda Schwartz

1212

answered Aug 27 '18 at 16:28

Yehuda Schwartz

1212

add a comment |

-2

Search for the "Inode" number of the file/folder and then delete using inode number. Below is an example:

ls -il

3407873 drwxr-xr-x. 2 root   root      4096 Mar 30 07:49 –p



find . -inum 3407873 -exec rm -rf {} ;

edited Mar 30 '15 at 6:12

bummi

1,47931422

answered Mar 30 '15 at 6:04

Diwa

This is a good answer — to a different question. It’s not an answer to this question.

– Scott
Oct 26 '18 at 4:33

add a comment |

-2

Search for the "Inode" number of the file/folder and then delete using inode number. Below is an example:

ls -il

3407873 drwxr-xr-x. 2 root   root      4096 Mar 30 07:49 –p



find . -inum 3407873 -exec rm -rf {} ;

edited Mar 30 '15 at 6:12

bummi

1,47931422

answered Mar 30 '15 at 6:04

Diwa

This is a good answer — to a different question. It’s not an answer to this question.

– Scott
Oct 26 '18 at 4:33

add a comment |

-2

Search for the "Inode" number of the file/folder and then delete using inode number. Below is an example:

ls -il

3407873 drwxr-xr-x. 2 root   root      4096 Mar 30 07:49 –p



find . -inum 3407873 -exec rm -rf {} ;

edited Mar 30 '15 at 6:12

bummi

1,47931422

answered Mar 30 '15 at 6:04

Diwa

Search for the "Inode" number of the file/folder and then delete using inode number. Below is an example:

ls -il

3407873 drwxr-xr-x. 2 root   root      4096 Mar 30 07:49 –p



find . -inum 3407873 -exec rm -rf {} ;

edited Mar 30 '15 at 6:12

bummi

1,47931422

answered Mar 30 '15 at 6:04

Diwa

edited Mar 30 '15 at 6:12

bummi

1,47931422

edited Mar 30 '15 at 6:12

bummi

1,47931422

edited Mar 30 '15 at 6:12

bummi

1,47931422

answered Mar 30 '15 at 6:04

Diwa

answered Mar 30 '15 at 6:04

Diwa

answered Mar 30 '15 at 6:04

Diwa

This is a good answer — to a different question. It’s not an answer to this question.

– Scott
Oct 26 '18 at 4:33

add a comment |

This is a good answer — to a different question. It’s not an answer to this question.

– Scott
Oct 26 '18 at 4:33

This is a good answer — to a different question. It’s not an answer to this question.

– Scott
Oct 26 '18 at 4:33

add a comment |

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