On Mon, 2007-03-19 at 11:16 -0600, Eduardo Sanz-Garcia wrote: > Today I have tried to remove 3500 files at once using the argument > expantion of bash: "rm *.txt" > There was an error: > *bash: /bin/mv: Argument list too long > *Here is the explanation and the workaround:
When using xargs, it is critical to remember that xargs might run your
command multiple times. For example, here's a classic newbie mistake:
find -mtime -7 | xargs tar cvfz backup.tgz
Remembering that the tar command might actually run multiple times, one
should instead do something like:
rm backup.tgz ; touch backup.tgz
find -mtime -7 | xargs tar rvfz backup.tgz
--
Stuart Jansen e-mail/jabber: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
google talk: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at
the results." -- Winston Churchill
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
-------------------- BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ The opinions expressed in this message are the responsibility of their author. They are not endorsed by BYU, the BYU CS Department or BYU-UUG. ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
