question for server guru---how to delete folder with many files - GoFuckYourself.com

latinasojourn · 12-05-2004, 01:32 PM

i want to do some cleanup on our servers.

specifically delete the folders that contain several hundred thousand small jpg files of TGP thumbs.

i will use SSH

now when i use regular "rm" command it times out.

what's the easy way to do this---what is the command line?

(delete the folder and all files in it---there might be 100K individual small jpg files within the "thumbs" folder)

thanks to anyone who knows!

12-05-2004, 01:34 PM

rm -rf folder/

???

AndrewKanuck · 12-05-2004, 01:34 PM

rm -rf foldername

If that gives you an error about too many files do it quick and dirty

bash
for i in `ls`
do
rm -rf $i
done

and wait

12-05-2004, 01:36 PM

dont see how rm-rf would have trouble with anything. you can delete your entire harddrive if you want with that command

AndrewKanuck · 12-05-2004, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AndrewKanuck
rm -rf foldername

If that gives you an error about too many files do it quick and dirty

bash
for i in `ls`
do
rm -rf $i
done

and wait

Quick note - only do that bash script inside the folder that you're trying to remove - don't do it from... say / or /home or anything crazy like that.

The smart thing would be to hire a server admin if you don't understand that concept tho

AndrewKanuck · 12-05-2004, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Equinox
dont see how rm-rf would have trouble with anything. you can delete your entire harddrive if you want with that command

I've had rm issues before where the filecount was too large - say if you were doing rm *.jpg - or in my case, I was deleting all locked messages in my spam folder (about 450,000 of them)

xenophobic · 12-05-2004, 01:39 PM

or just
find . -type f -exec rm {} \;

two curly braces replaced by stupid board.

you would have to do it in the directory you want all the files removed.

xenophobic · 12-05-2004, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Equinox
dont see how rm-rf would have trouble with anything. you can delete your entire harddrive if you want with that command

because the file count exceeds the maximum argument length from the kernel.

smashface · 12-05-2004, 01:46 PM

What about

cp /dev/null /folder

latinasojourn · 12-05-2004, 01:46 PM

thanks you guys.

OK, so in other words i,

cd to the thumbs directory

and then type the command below?:

rm -rf folder/

SinSational · 12-05-2004, 01:53 PM

yes, if you want to clean out /thumbs then do

rm -rf *

that will empty it

LikeWhoa! · 12-05-2004, 01:58 PM

MAKING SURE YOURE IN THE "THUMBS" DIR BEFORE YOU DO THE ABOVE

12-05-2004, 01:32 PM	#1
latinasojourn Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 3,191	question for server guru---how to delete folder with many files i want to do some cleanup on our servers. specifically delete the folders that contain several hundred thousand small jpg files of TGP thumbs. i will use SSH now when i use regular "rm" command it times out. what's the easy way to do this---what is the command line? (delete the folder and all files in it---there might be 100K individual small jpg files within the "thumbs" folder) thanks to anyone who knows!

12-05-2004, 01:34 PM	#3
AndrewKanuck Confirmed User Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Cleveland & Atlanta Posts: 6,706	rm -rf foldername If that gives you an error about too many files do it quick and dirty bash for i in `ls` do rm -rf $i done and wait __________________

12-05-2004, 01:39 PM	#7
xenophobic Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Dallas Posts: 874	or just find . -type f -exec rm {} \; two curly braces replaced by stupid board. you would have to do it in the directory you want all the files removed. Last edited by xenophobic; 12-05-2004 at 01:40 PM..

12-05-2004, 01:53 PM	#11
SinSational Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,723	yes, if you want to clean out /thumbs then do rm -rf * that will empty it __________________ ICQ# 273099174 - monthly specials - 2 Month Free Credit on All Plans - 100% Referrals - chris@ for details Virtual from $14.95/month, Dedicated from $149.95/month Dual-Core Xeon > 1000GB @ $149.95 \| 1500GB @ $169.95 \| 10Mbps @ $269.95 Last edited by SinSational; 12-05-2004 at 01:55 PM..

12-05-2004, 01:34 PM	#2
X37375787 Guest Posts: n/a	rm -rf folder/ ???

12-05-2004, 01:36 PM	#4
X37375787 Guest Posts: n/a	dont see how rm-rf would have trouble with anything. you can delete your entire harddrive if you want with that command

12-05-2004, 01:46 PM	#9
smashface Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Francisco, California Posts: 991	What about cp /dev/null /folder

12-05-2004, 01:58 PM	#12
LikeWhoa! Registered User Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Right At Home Posts: 72	MAKING SURE YOURE IN THE "THUMBS" DIR BEFORE YOU DO THE ABOVE