6

I have files ending in ~ in my home directory, and I want to delete them. How do I do that? How do I prevent this backup functionality?

2
  • 2
    I hope you don't have cause to regret preventing backup functionality!
    – user25656
    Jul 6, 2013 at 17:07
  • 1
    No, I already have other ways to backup my work, but I just think that this kind of backup is meaningless. I prefer external copies or the cloud.
    – Flair
    Jul 6, 2013 at 21:27

3 Answers 3

13

If you also have unwanted backup files in subfolders, it gets a bit more difficult:

find . -type f -name '*~' -delete
4

You can simply run rm *~ if you're sure there is no other file that you need which ends in ~

If it is gedit that is creating the backup files, you can open gedit and select Edit->Preferences->Editor and uncheck the option "Create a backup copy of files before saving"

And for nano, look in /etc/nanorc for:

## Backup files to filename~.
set backup  

and change that to

## Backup files to filename~.
# set backup
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  • I already removed nano anyway. Is there a way of removing gedit without breaking the kernel?
    – Flair
    Jul 6, 2013 at 21:18
  • just do "sudo apt-get remove gedit". Btw, Do you have another editor installed?
    – rahules
    Jul 6, 2013 at 21:20
  • Yes, I have Vim; I just wanted to try out gedit.
    – Flair
    Jul 6, 2013 at 21:20
  • 1
    You may like to have a look at this. askubuntu.com/questions/97683/…
    – rahules
    Jul 6, 2013 at 21:24
  • It's not working for me.
    – Flair
    Jul 7, 2013 at 16:25
-2

The hidden files are in place to keep user program setup and other program information.

I strongly suggest you to not delete those files.

If you a sure to want to delete them, then open the menu Places->Home Folder (press CTRL+H if you don't see hidden files) and then select and press the Delete keyboard key. If you don't want move them into trash press Shift+Delete keyboard keys

From terminal you can delete hidden files ( don't do it ) with: rm -fr /home/youruser/.*

2
  • 1
    Those are the hidden files that I am not looking for.
    – Flair
    Jul 6, 2013 at 21:17
  • 1
    You can use that do delete the files though.
    – Nick
    Jul 6, 2013 at 21:19

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