how to delete an entry(a directory) with too many files in it

[ian_zhao2006]

my server type is HP C3600 and the unix version HP_UX 10.20
the result of command ll for tis entry
drwxrwxr-x 2 hp3070 hp3070 3854336 Jan 4 17:02 alarm

in directory
/var/hp3070/qm/logdata/alarm,there are very large number of files in it.
I want to delete them by command
rm -rf *
a message appears on the screen like
sh: /bin/rm: The parameter list is too long.
if I use command
rm -rf 1:05060*
I can delete some files.
because the files are too many,I will delete many times to delete these files.
I wonder who can give me a help on delete these files in a short time.
thank you.

P.S. This thread has been moved from HP-UX Technical Documentation to HP-UX > languages - HP Forums Moderator

[Peter Godron · Accepted solution]

Hi,
if you do not have any sub-directories under alarm, you could try:
cd /var/hp3070/qm/logdata/alarm
find . -print -exec rm {} \;

[Arunvijai_4]

# find /var/hp3070/qm/logdata/alarm -type f -print -exec rm {} \;

-Arun

[Robert-Jan Goossens]

Hi,

# cd /var/hp3070/qm/logdata/alarm
# find . -name "1:05060*" | xargs rm

Regards,
Robert-Jan

[Senthil Prabu.S_1]

hi,
Use find for this.
find /var/hp3070/qm/logdata/alarm . -print -exec rm {} \;


HTH,
Prabu.S

[Fabio Ettore]

Hi,

good that provided suggestions have solved your problem. Anyway that message

"The parameter list is too long."

is not a 'rm' command problem but an environment limit on the shell for HP-UX 10.20 (I suppose you are using sh-posix at this time).
That should be solved by enabling the following kernel parameter:

large_ncargs_enabled


This is a limitation of 10.20 only since it is built-in in 11.X, so you won't see it on 11.X systems.

HTH.

Best regards,
Fabio