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How to empty all files in a directory

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# 1  
Old 07-20-2008
How to empty all files in a directory
Hi all,

Can you tell me how to empty all files in a directory with a "find" command?

It does not seem to work the way I try it:

Code:
[root@localhost dir1]# ls -l *.dat
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            7 Jul 20 20:51 la2.dat
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            4 Jul 20 20:51 la.dat
[root@localhost dir1]# find /root/dir1 -name "*.dat" -exec touch {} \;
[root@localhost dir1]# ls -l *.dat
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            7 Jul 20 20:53 la2.dat
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            4 Jul 20 20:53 la.dat

Thanks
# 2  
Old 07-20-2008
One way -
Code:
#!/bin/ksh
find /path/to/files -type f |\
while read file
do 
      > $file
done

# 3  
Old 07-20-2008
Thanks, but I know how to do it with a loop and I was wondering how to do it with "find" and exec.

I usually use this :

Code:
 for i in `find ./ -name "*.dat" -type f`; do > $i; done

# 4  
Old 07-20-2008
doesnt use exec, but does it wthout looping

Code:
find . -name '*.dat' -type f | xargs rm

# 5  
Old 07-20-2008
Code:
find . -name "*.dat" -type f -exec cp /dev/null {} \;

# 6  
Old 07-21-2008
Hello majormark,

for you information, "touch" only change file access and modification times and if file does not exist it will create file. Smilie

- nilesh
# 7  
Old 07-21-2008
Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesByars
doesnt use exec, but does it wthout looping

Code:
find . -name '*.dat' -type f | xargs rm

this is going to delete and not empty them
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