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How to delete all the files and folders inside all the directories except some specific directory?

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# 1  
Old 07-27-2015
How to delete all the files and folders inside all the directories except some specific directory?
hi,

i have a requirement to delete all the files from all the directories except some specific directories like archive and log.
for example:
there are following directories such as
A B C D Archive E Log F
which contains some sub directories and files. The requirement is to delete all the files and subfolders except the contents of Archive and Log.
# 2  
Old 07-27-2015
Why would you want to do this?
-- this appears to be a homework-type of problem, and not real-life.
What have you tried so far?
# 3  
Old 07-28-2015
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeyg
Why would you want to do this?
-- this appears to be a homework-type of problem, and not real-life.
What have you tried so far?
Not always. I had almost the same scenario where I had to create a script in my office for the another department guys.
# 4  
Old 07-29-2015
Its not a homework question. I got a small task of clearing all the old files from all the directories except archive. Instead of going to each 200+ directories and deleting the files manually, thought of writing a script. Can someone please help.
# 5  
Old 07-29-2015
Code:
find . -type d \( -name archive -o -name log \) -prune -o -type f -print

If this correctly prints the files to be deleted then replace -print by -delete or -exec rm -f {} +
This User Gave Thanks to MadeInGermany For This Post:
Little
# 6  
Old 07-29-2015
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadeInGermany
Code:
find . -type d \( -name archive -o -name log \) -prune -o -type f -print

If this correctly prints the files to be deleted then replace -print by -delete or -exec rm -f {} +
Thanks for the solution. Can you please explain it?
# 7  
Old 07-29-2015
find . -type d
Searches for directories recursively starting from current folder.

\( -name archive -o -name log \) -prune
If directory is named archive or log then remove (prune) it from output of find command.

-o -type f -print
Otherwise print all files from the directories, except those pruned.

As MadeInGermany stated,
Quote:
If this correctly prints the files to be deleted then replace -print by -delete or -exec rm -f {} +
which will delete the files instead of printing them to the standard output.
These 3 Users Gave Thanks to mjf For This Post:
Little nitin09 rbatte1
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