[GLLUG] using find and xargs to remove files
Alec Warner
warnera6 at egr.msu.edu
Tue Apr 4 21:02:56 EDT 2006
Dustin Clute wrote:
> You could of also done the following.
>
>
# find / -type f -name Thumbs.db -exec rm {} \;
Not as good because for N files the -exec will spawn N rm's
xargs is smart enough to stuff as many files as it can on the command
line when invoking rm.
>
>
> Dustin
>
> On 4/3/06, *Caleb Cushing* <xenoterracide at gmail.com
> <mailto:xenoterracide at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> I'm trying to remove the crappy remnants of windows on my linux box.
> one thing I want to get rid of is the Thumbs.db and desktop.ini
> files that were in my music folder and got copied over. I was trying
> to do it by piping find to xargs but that isn't working. It should
> and I'm trying to figure out why it isn't. I know I could just use
> the -exec option but now I just want to know why what I'm trying to
> do isn't working.
>
> # find / -name "Thumbs.db" | xargs rm
>
> according to this
> http://www.unixreview.com/documents/s=8274/sam0306g/ that should
> work...
> I've tried variations
>
> #find / -type f -name "Thumbs.db" -print | xargs rm
>
> and all sorts of other things. I usually get this
>
> xargs: unmatched single quote
>
> I looked the error up and what I found was of no help. at least to
> me... I didn't get it. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong and
> how to do it properly?
>
>
>
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