On Saturday 22 May 2010 08:25:55 Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Sat, 22 May 2010 12:35:10 +0100, David W Noon wrote:
> > >find -name *.ext -exe rm "{}" +
> >
> > Or simpler still:
> >
> > find -name *.ext -delete
>
> Neat - I hadn't noticed that option.
>
> Anyone for find / -delete ?
If you use the -delete switch, just be careful. From the man page:
<QUOTE>
Warnings: Don't forget that the find command line is evaluated as an
expression, so putting -delete first will make find try to delete
everything below the starting points you specified.
</QUOTE>
That means that the command
find -name *.tmp -delete
will delete all your temp files while
find -delete -name *.tmp
will delete everything below your current directory. If you're in the root
directory, it's equivalent to running your suggested command above. I just
found this out the hard way, although luckily I wasn't in the root directory
when I ran the command and so didn't trash my system. I did lose the changes
I'd made to the project I was working on but fortunately had a backup of the
original files.
--
"If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something
in them to hang him." - Cardinal Richelieu
