Delete files and folder with exceptions

Question

Problem: I need to delete files and folder from a directory full of files and folders with exceptions of files that I don't want to be deleted.

First attempt:

rm -r !(c_50.tbl sim.sh pam.prp PROINT spy.inp s.bak sr.ccmg sr.drp s.echo s.mdl st.prob SUB.bsub ufile)

Unfortunately, this command delete everything inside the directory

Note: In brackets the files that I don't want delete. ufile is a folder.

Inside !() you want to separate patterns (i.e. filenames) with | not space. See gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Pattern-Matching and read about "pattern-list". — glenn jackman, Jan 22 '19 at 16:29

dessert · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-22 20:43:10Z

2

There is a missing vertical line "|" (or pipe symbol, vbar, stick, etc.) in between the files listed in the parenthesis.

The command should be:

rm -r !(c_50.tbl|sim.sh|pam.prp|PROINT|spy.inp|s.bak|sr.ccmg|sr.drp|s.echo|s.mdl|st.prob|SUB.bsub|ufile)

What this command does will remove all the files and sub-directories in the current directory except for c_50.tbl or sim.sh or pam.prp etc.

dessert

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answered Jan 22 '19 at 16:34

engineerRed

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Before the command I had to activate: shopt -s extglob – Davide Sciortino Jan 23 '19 at 11:03

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