CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxbashglob
user6792790
user6792790

Reputation: 688

Deleting files ending with 2 digits in linux

In my folder, I want to delete the files that ends with 2 digits (10, 11, 12, etc.)

What I've tried is

rm [0-9]*

but it seems like it doesn't work.

What is the right syntax of doing this?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 3720

Answers (2)

dlmeetei
dlmeetei

Reputation: 10371

The command

rm [0-9]*

means remove all the files that start with a digit. The range within [] is expanded single time.

Whereas you intend to remove files ending with double digit, so command should be

rm *[0-9][0-9]

If you have some file extension, the command should be modified as 

rm *[0-9][0-9]* or
rm *[0-9][0-9].ext

where ext is the extension like txt

Upvotes: 0

Jonathan Leffler
Jonathan Leffler

Reputation: 753675

Converting comments into an answer.

Your requirement is a bit ambiguous. However, you can use:

rm -i *[0-9][0-9]

as long as you don't mind files ending with three digits being removed. If you do mind the three-digit files being removed, use:

rm -i *[!0-9][0-9][0-9]

(assuming Bash history expansion doesn't get in the way). Note that if you have file names consisting of just 2 digits, those will not be removed; that would require:

rm -i [0-9][0-9]

Caution!

The -i option is for interactive. It is generally a bad idea to experiment with globbing and rm commands because you can do a lot of damage if you get it wrong. However, you can use other techniques to neutralize the danger, such as:

echo *[!0-9][0-9]

which echoes all the file names, or:

printf '%s\n' *[!0-9][0-9]

which lists the file names one per line. Basically, be cautious when experimenting with file deletion — don't risk making a mistake unless you know you have good backups readily available. Even then, it is better not to need to use them

See also the GNU Bash manual on:

Upvotes: 5

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