1

How can I delete every file on the system which have something in the name?

muru
  • 193,181
  • 53
  • 473
  • 722
Goro
  • 113
  • 1
  • 4
  • 1
    Possible duplicate of: http://askubuntu.com/questions/443830/delete-all-files-that-contain-a-particular-string – TheWanderer May 18 '15 at 12:52

1 Answers1

3

Please be careful

This following command with the parameter -delete deletes all the files with something in the name in the specified directory and in all subdirectories.

Open a terminal and go to the right folder:

cd <your_search_starts_here>

test with

find . -type f -name "*something*"

and delete with

find . -type f -name "*something*" -delete

Or a shorter version:

find <your_search_starts_here> -type f -name "*something*" -delete

For your home folder:

  • !!! first run a test

    find ~ -type f -name "*something*"

    and than

    find ~ -type f -name "*something*" -delete

For the whole filesystem

  • !!! first run a test !!!

    sudo find / -type f -name "*something*"

    and test again and than delete with

    sudo find / -type f -name "*something*" -delete

Or only in the specified directory:

find <your_search_starts_here> -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*something*" -delete

And because you have used the tag locate:

The results of a search with locate are based on a database. This may be outdated. Start an update with sudo updatedb. find performs a true search. However, it also takes longer.

Fabby
  • 34,341
  • 38
  • 97
  • 191
A.B.
  • 89,123
  • 21
  • 245
  • 323
  • That's the problem `right folder` .. those files are all across the system and it will be pain to navigate it to each folder and delete them. – Goro May 18 '15 at 12:26
  • As I wrote "This command deletes all the files with `something` in the name in the specified directory and in all subdirectories." – A.B. May 18 '15 at 12:27
  • So there is no way to say `check the system, find "files" and delete them` without to say first `in this directory` as I said is too much time consuming if I navigate to each directory where it has the file and then delete it. – Goro May 18 '15 at 12:30
  • 2
    Answered, read and please be careful. – A.B. May 18 '15 at 12:32
  • Thank's let me try it. It will be long long `find....` I will post the result. – Goro May 18 '15 at 12:36
  • Strange.. whit `locate file` It found really a lot of that file.. but with `sudo find / -type f -name "*something*"` it found only ~10-15 results. – Goro May 18 '15 at 12:41
  • Also it didn't delete any file whit `-delete`. All files are still on the system – Goro May 18 '15 at 12:44
  • The search with `locate` is based on a database. This may be outdated. Start an update with `sudo updatedb`. `find` performs a true search. However, it also takes longer. – A.B. May 18 '15 at 12:44
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/23889/discussion-between-a-b-and-goro). – A.B. May 18 '15 at 12:45