Delete directory and files

[rhansen]

Hello,

I need to delete a specific directory on a number of servers.

The directories are under /home.

/home/abc_123
/home/abc_123.09122009

The thing is I need to delete only the directory with the date in it i.e. /home/abc_123.09122009 and not the /home/abc_123.

Can someone please advise on how to do it.

Thanks.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

# rm -rf /home/abc_123.09122009

...which will remove (recursively) the directory and all its contents.

Assuming that you have 'ssh' (or if you don't, use 'remsh' and do something like:

while read HOST X
do
ssh ${HOST} -n rm -rf /home/abc_123.09122009
done < file_of_hosts

...where the 'file_of_hosts" has the names or IP addresses of the servers to which you want to connect.

Substitute 'remsh ${HOST) -n ...' if necessary.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Tingli · Accepted solution]

Or, use

rm -f /home/abc_123.????????

[F Verschuren]

When removing files always fist test it whit ls so you are realy sure you are removing not to match...

rm -r /home/abc_123.[0-9]*

the -f option will only be needed if the files are in used, looking ad your request is looks like that you do not want to remove files that are in used... so never use -f (unless you realy need it and you know what you are doing.

[Julián Aimar]

Hi, execute

# rm -r /home/abc_123.????200?

Buena suerte !!!

[Matti_Kurkela]

If you wish to use wildcards when executing commands remotely, you must use backslashes or quotes to prevent the local shell from attempting to expand the wildcards.

You'll want the wildcard expression to be transferred to the remote host as-is, and then the remote host should expand the wildcards before actually executing the command.

Here's the suggestion of James, modified to delete directories with any date, not just .09122009.

while read HOST X
do
ssh ${HOST} -n rm -rf '/home/abc_123.????????'
done < file_of_hosts

MK

[Suraj K Sankari]

Hi,

#rm -Rf

is the command

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