How to delete all files except one named file from a specific folder

Question

Here is the situation.

I have a directory which contains many files with different extensions. I want to delete all files except one with a specific name.

This could be easily done using the GUI by selecting all and pressing ctrl and deselecting the file in question.

That is exactly what I want to, but how can I do it from the command line?

For example: dirA contains the following files:

a.txt
b.txt
c.php
d.html
a.db
b.db
e.html

I want to delete all files keeping only the file named a.txt.

I think [this](http://askubuntu.com/questions/256521/removing-files-with-a-certain-extension-except-one-file-from-terminal) might explain. ;) — JoKeR, May 16 '15 at 12:20
These questions are confusing me, not to mention they have no idea how many files are on your system with . Or .txt, use this command simple to use and easy to understand rm -riv ~/Desktop/path/* * = all in folder , r = recursive , v = verbose , i = prompt you before deleting — , Apr 09 '17 at 23:56

score 99 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 09 '16 at 07:33

99

I've come with this easy simple great command:

rm !(a.txt)

you can use ! as a negation

Test the glob with echo first i.e.

echo !(a.txt)

If it doesn't work, for bash you may need to enable this with

shopt -s extglob

If you wanted to keep both a.txt and b.txt, you can use !(a.txt|b.txt) or !([ab].txt).

Edit:

to make rm working recursively just add -r like

rm -r !(a.txt)

and also, it is working with folder. just need to change the name to the dir name, such as for a_dir

rm -r !(a_dir)

edited Jun 09 '16 at 07:33

lhrec_106

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answered May 16 '15 at 12:21

Maythux

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I never see such thing before now, I discover it by change lol. Commands are magical – Maythux May 16 '15 at 12:26
1

What shell does this work on? Does it work on ubuntu's default bash? EDIT: nevermind, found the info, proposed an edit. – Random832 May 16 '15 at 15:19
From one test I ran, it looks like `echo !()` makes the shell non-responsive. [Which is not a problem with the present use of the `!(filename)` form, just a curiosity.] – James Waldby - jwpat7 May 16 '15 at 20:28
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Seems to be dependent on ksh. Bash doesn't like it. – Joshua May 17 '15 at 16:16
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@PeterMortensen, you can add -r to rm command like this `rm -r !(a.txt)`, it will work recursively – lhrec_106 Jun 09 '16 at 06:12
Worked for me like a charm on 16LTS through bash – Vass Jan 09 '17 at 00:20
As a new user to Ubuntu I am curious to know what this command has done? shopt -s extglob , I am curious as it helped me. – Hammad Hassan Mar 04 '17 at 18:22
1

For me running this on mac it returns `-bash: !: event not found` – Jim Mar 17 '17 at 18:57
syntax error near unexpected token `(' – andilabs Aug 25 '17 at 18:14
My zsh reports `number expected` :(. – Minh Nghĩa Jul 03 '20 at 07:59

score 23 · Answer 2 · edited May 19 '15 at 10:54

23

You can try this command:

find . \! -name 'a.txt' -delete

But you need be careful because find command is recursive.

edited May 19 '15 at 10:54

Maythux

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answered May 16 '15 at 12:22

cosmoscalibur

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You can prevent `find` from being recursive with a `-maxdepth 1` – evilsoup May 16 '15 at 16:57

score 12 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 01 '15 at 12:01

12

You can do this in terminal:

cd dirA 
export GLOBIGNORE=a.txt
rm *
export GLOBIGNORE=

edited Jun 01 '15 at 12:01

Maythux

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answered May 16 '15 at 12:28

Sharad Gautam

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Does not work if you set full path – kinORnirvana Nov 24 '15 at 09:24

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 05 '15 at 20:13

5

You can use the command :

find ! -name 'a.txt' -type f -exec rm -f {} +

This will look for files (-type f) in the current directory except for file a.txt (! -name 'a.txt) and then will remove them (-exec rm -f {} +)

edited Jun 05 '15 at 20:13

Maythux

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answered May 16 '15 at 12:20

Sh1d0w

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But this would not remove the directories if exist?! – Maythux May 21 '15 at 16:36
@Maythux Yes, the author asks how to remove files, not folders. – Sh1d0w May 21 '15 at 16:50
`-exec rm -f {} +` doesn't really have any advantages over `-delete`. – Eliah Kagan Sep 13 '17 at 08:46

score 5 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

5

Use find and xargs

find folder -type f -not -name 'a.txt' -print0 | xargs -0 rm

To exclude multiple things:

find folder -type f -not -name 'a.txt' -not -name 'b.txt' -print0 | xargs -0 rm

This also works with wildcards:

find folder -type f -not -name '*.png' -not -name 'b.txt' -print0  | xargs -0 rm

To search in the current folder, use . in place of 'folder'.

Base source

edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

Community

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answered May 16 '15 at 12:21

Tim

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Probably will be good for portability =) +1 – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy May 16 '15 at 13:42
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Note that this will fail if your file names contain whitespace or newlines or glob characters etc. Use `find . -type f -not -name 'a.txt' -delete` instead. – terdon May 16 '15 at 13:45

How to delete all files except one named file from a specific folder

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