Date: Sun, 07 May 2000 16:50:57 -0700 From: Doug Barton <DougB@gorean.org> To: Darren Wyn Rees <merlin@netlink.co.uk> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: "rm -rf *" - "argument list too long" Message-ID: <39160161.4BCFEFE3@gorean.org> References: <20000507201410.M540@netlink.co.uk>
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Darren Wyn Rees wrote: > > I'm in a directory with a tonne of files I wish to delete. > I type "rm -rf *", but it won't work, it gives "/bin/rm: Argument > list too long". So how can I delete these many files ? > > I can "cd ..", and then "rm -rf <directory name>", and that works. > > However, what if I didn't wish to remove directories. In that > case, what would I do to remove the files ? First, ignore the overly complicated and potentially dangerous answers so far on this thread. :) Second, think about it for a minute. If "*" provides a list that's too long for rm to handle, why not break it up into smaller chunks? For example, if your files mainly have alpha characters in their names, do something like: rm [a-c]* Starting with larger chunks, and going smaller as needed till the error messages disappear. Doug -- "Live free or die" - State motto of my ancestral homeland, New Hampshire Do YOU Yahoo!? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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