Bash: Removing Multiple Files

denvercode

7/28/24, 7:11 PM

Beginner here...

I have a fruit folder, named "apples," that has extra files I want to remove.

Remove all files that begin with "red_dk" and "red_lt"
Remove all files that end with ".gif"

If I do a single file, it works.

#!/bin/bash
rm "red_dk*"

If I do multiple, it does not

#!/bin/bash
rm "red_dk" "red_lt*" "*.gif"

1 + 1

command-line

bash

scripts

files

Zatigem

7/28/24, 7:53 PM

Your first command `rm "red_dk*"` does not work... It deletes a file named exactly "red_dk*" and won't delete for example "red_dk_hello".

Score:4

Ubuntu

Sam Vilain

7/28/24, 7:49 PM

The * character (as well as ? and [a-z]-style character groups) match all files with all the other non–wildcard parts in their name name, and expand the argument list to include all those matching filenames. This is called "glob file expansion".

You can preview it using echo.

eg:

$ echo red_dk* red_lt* *.gif
red_dk1 red_dk2 red_lt1 red_lt2 meme.gif answer.gif
$

To remove the files, replace echo with rm. I tend to stack them, like echo rm.

If you somehow ended up with a literal * in your filename, then you could remove that file specifically by quoting it. Quoting, single or double, avoids "glob file expansion".

$ echo "red_dk*"
red_dk*
$ rm "red_dk*"
rm: cannot remove 'red_dk*': No such file or directory
$

+ 0

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I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Bash: Removing Multiple Files

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