So, I have a requirement to delete all files from specific folders within a directory. These are folders that end with "-outputs" in their names and I need to delete all files in those particular folders.
Is there a command in linux that lets you do that?
You can execute the following command:
rm $YOUR_PATH\*-outputs
Change $YOUR_PATH to the path where the files are located.
If you want to ignore nonexistent files and arguments, and avoid the prompt, you can use the -f option.
rm -f $YOUR_PATH\*-outputs
You can see the different rm options here:
rm Linual manual page
I know the premise of the question may be confusing, but I want to understand what happened.
Recently I have been experimenting with the rockchip OK3399 single-chip computer(see here) and have installed a linux system on it with TF card installation. Using Putty and connecting with serial protocol, I was able to establish a connection with the OK3399 computer and control it through my laptop.
I am trying to self-learn some linux with the OK3399 system. I created a bash code by the name of displayvids.sh inside the directory /usr/bin, which is meant to take a variable number of pictures with a mipi camera and then save in a directory for work.
I finished writing the code, but for some reason I cannot run the .sh file when my working directory is not the /usr/bin directory, despite /usr/bin being in the %PATH% environment variable. So, I executed the following command:
mv /usr/bin/display* /usr/local/bin
... attempting to move the file to /usr/local/bin instead. The command ran successfully, but when I tried to run the command:
cd /usr/local/bin
It tells me that I cannot cd to bin
As seen from the above image, the /usr/local/bin is not even a directory. Why would mv succeed if the target was not a directory? How can I retrieve my bash file?
Why would mv succeed if the target was not a directory?
mv can also rename files:
mv foo.txt bar.txt
You renamed your script to bin and moved it under /usr/local.
You may want to remember to add a trailing slash next time, to have mv barf if the target isn't a directory:
mv /usr/bin/display* /usr/local/bin/
How can I retrieve my bash file?
Rename it back.
mv bin displayvids.sh
For future reference, you can use the file command to (try to) identify the contents of a file, if it's installed:
file bin
would have probably said bin: Bash script or similar.
This question already has an answer here:
Delete folder that contain subfolders and files on linux
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Closed 1 year ago.
I've been trying to remove an unwanted file: 'PycharmProjects' but I can't seem to be able to do it. Every time I use the rm command (as in rm filename) the linux terminals says this: rm: cannot remove 'PycharmProjects': Is a directory. I've also tried trying to just unistall it from files but every time I do that an error occurs. Could you please help me.
NOTE: I use chromebook
If linux says that is a directory please try to run
rm -d filename
and if not worked try next command
rm -r dirname
here also is an article about deleting files and directories in linux command line:
https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-remove-files-and-directories-using-linux-command-line/
you would try
rm -rf "name_directory"
with rm you will use the remove command; with -r you will select anything on specified directory; and with -f you will force, omiting any rule or barrier of security so you must be careful because a rm -rf command could delete any important data from your disc so you will need admin permissions to execute that command but you will discover could be useful sometimes.
P.D. when you need help with any command you can use the man command that will show you a manual for the command selected for example in this case you can write
man rm
that will show you all the options that you can do with that command depending to the command you also can find information like the developer of the command; common structures and more interesting information.
normally the man command come preinstall in the popular distrubutions but if you type "man" and it isn´t work you could search on internet how to install the man on your linux distribution
have a nice day and welcome to linux :)
Generally, rmdir is the correct way to remove a directory in Linux (and mkdir to create a directory). If your directly is not empty, then rmdir won't remote it.
The command rm -rf <dirname> (where "dirname" is your directory's name) is the less safe way to remove a directory and all of its contents. Only use it if you're sure that the directory doesn't contain information you want to preserve. Remember the rm and rmdir commands don't put anything in a "Recycle Bin" or similar!
I frequently have to move files from one server to another, when moving websites or when I have the need of a code package that is located on another server.
Currently I use the following commands:
wget -m --ftp-user=username --ftp-password=password ftp://ftp.domain.std/public_html
cp -rf ftp.domain.std/public_html/* .
cp -rf ftp.domain.std/public_html/.* .
This works fine, but I wonder if there is a method which will make the second and third line unnecessary?
You can give the -nH --cut-dirs=1 parameters to skip the host directory (-nH) and cut away one level of directories (--cut-dirs=1)
(This may vary by wget version, this is from GNU wget.)
wget -nH --cut-dirs=1 -m --ftp-user=username --ftp-password=password ftp://ftp.domain.std/public_html
I have a symlink to an important directory. I want to get rid of that symlink, while keeping the directory behind it.
I tried rm and get back rm: cannot remove 'foo'.
I tried rmdir and got back rmdir: failed to remove 'foo': Directory not empty
I then progressed through rm -f, rm -rf and sudo rm -rf
Then I went to find my back-ups.
Is there a way to get rid of the symlink with out throwing away the baby with the bathwater?
# this works:
rm foo
# versus this, which doesn't:
rm foo/
Basically, you need to tell it to delete a file, not delete a directory. I believe the difference between rm and rmdir exists because of differences in the way the C library treats each.
At any rate, the first should work, while the second should complain about foo being a directory.
If it doesn't work as above, then check your permissions. You need write permission to the containing directory to remove files.
use the "unlink" command and make sure not to have the / at the end
$ unlink mySymLink
unlink() deletes a name from the file system. If that name was the last link to a file and no processes have the file open the file is deleted and the space it was using is made available for reuse.
If the name was the last link to a file but any processes still have the file open the file will remain in existence until the last file descriptor referring to it is closed.
I think this may be problematic if I'm reading it correctly.
If the name referred to a symbolic link the link is removed.
If the name referred to a socket, fifo or device the name for it is removed but processes which have the object open may continue to use it.
https://linux.die.net/man/2/unlink
rm should remove the symbolic link.
skrall#skrall-desktop:~$ mkdir bar
skrall#skrall-desktop:~$ ln -s bar foo
skrall#skrall-desktop:~$ ls -l foo
lrwxrwxrwx 1 skrall skrall 3 2008-10-16 16:22 foo -> bar
skrall#skrall-desktop:~$ rm foo
skrall#skrall-desktop:~$ ls -l foo
ls: cannot access foo: No such file or directory
skrall#skrall-desktop:~$ ls -l bar
total 0
skrall#skrall-desktop:~$
Use rm symlinkname but do not include a forward slash at the end (do not use: rm symlinkname/). You will then be asked if you want to remove the symlink, y to answer yes.
Assuming it actually is a symlink,
$ rm -d symlink
It should figure it out, but since it can't we enable the latent code that was intended for another case that no longer exists but happens to do the right thing here.
If rm cannot remove a symlink, perhaps you need to look at the permissions on the directory that contains the symlink. To remove directory entries, you need write permission on the containing directory.
Assuming your setup is something like: ln -s /mnt/bar ~/foo, then you should be able to do a rm foo with no problem. If you can't, make sure you are the owner of the foo and have permission to write/execute the file. Removing foo will not touch bar, unless you do it recursively.
I also had the same problem. So I suggest to try unlink <absolute path>.
For example unlink ~/<USER>/<SOME OTHER DIRECTORY>/foo.
On CentOS, just run rm linkname and it will ask to "remove symbolic link?". Type Y and Enter, the link will be gone and the directory be safe.
I had this problem with MinGW (actually Git Bash) running on a Windows Server. None of the above suggestions seemed to work. In the end a made a copy of the directory in case then deleted the soft link in Windows Explorer then deleted the item in the Recycle Bin. It made noises like it was deleting the files but didn't. Do make a backup though!
you can use unlink in the folder where you have created your symlink
If rm cannot remove a link, perhaps you need to look at the permissions on the directory that contains the link. To remove directory entries, you need write permission on the containing directory.