removing one file type from a large file collection(solved)
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Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
removing one file type from a large file collection(solved)
hello. i have large music collection and would like to remove all the jpeg files (ie cover, file, etc) that i have accumulated over time. so my plan would be to search my music file for any jpegs and delete them. i assume this is possible however the HOW is eluding me. i have tried the tracker search tool and the search tool in the file management program but either they dont work as i assume they should or im not using them properly. any help would be appreciated.
linux mint darnya with gnome desktop
good day
linux mint darnya with gnome desktop
good day
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
psyodin,
You can do this from the command line pretty easily. Open a terminal and change the directory to the one that holds your jpeg files.
cd /home/fred/Music
To remove all the jpeg files in that directory type:
rm -v *.jpeg
They will be gone. You can not recover them once you press enter.
This of course can be used to delete other file types too, by changing the *.jpeg to *.mp3 as an example.
Fred
You can do this from the command line pretty easily. Open a terminal and change the directory to the one that holds your jpeg files.
cd /home/fred/Music
To remove all the jpeg files in that directory type:
rm -v *.jpeg
They will be gone. You can not recover them once you press enter.
This of course can be used to delete other file types too, by changing the *.jpeg to *.mp3 as an example.
Fred
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
thank you for the help
when i tried that i get:
rm: cannot remove `*.jpeg': No such file or directory
now i have folders inside myputer@myputer:~$ cd /home/myputer/Music
for example /home/myputer/Music/A-I/Alice in Chains/Dirt/Folder.jpg
perhaps that is the problem but im hoping to avoid opening each folder or change directory to each folder to delete the jpeg files
when i tried that i get:
rm: cannot remove `*.jpeg': No such file or directory
now i have folders inside myputer@myputer:~$ cd /home/myputer/Music
for example /home/myputer/Music/A-I/Alice in Chains/Dirt/Folder.jpg
perhaps that is the problem but im hoping to avoid opening each folder or change directory to each folder to delete the jpeg files
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
psyodin,
Sorry I went to dinner.
Didn't realize your files weren't in one directory. try this in a terminal:
find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm
Fred
Sorry I went to dinner.
Didn't realize your files weren't in one directory. try this in a terminal:
find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm
Fred
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
Lysias,
This is workable too. The only thing about your approach is that the rm command is limited in the amount of data it can handle at one time. I got the impression he had a lot to delete. Don't know if it would be enough to cause an error or not.
Using a pipe and the xargs command breaks it up into multiple small chunks that rm may find easier to deal with.
Not throwing rocks. You idea will work just fine as long as he doesn't have too much data to deal with.
Fred
This is workable too. The only thing about your approach is that the rm command is limited in the amount of data it can handle at one time. I got the impression he had a lot to delete. Don't know if it would be enough to cause an error or not.
Using a pipe and the xargs command breaks it up into multiple small chunks that rm may find easier to deal with.
Not throwing rocks. You idea will work just fine as long as he doesn't have too much data to deal with.
Fred
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
Lysias,
No need to be sorry sir. Your suggestion was a good one. I just had no idea how much data he was playing with, that's why I did it like that.
That's whats nice about linux. There are always multiple ways of getting things done.
Please feel free to chime in on my instructions if you see something I am doing wrong, or a better way. It won't offend me, I am always willing to learn a better way.
Fred
No need to be sorry sir. Your suggestion was a good one. I just had no idea how much data he was playing with, that's why I did it like that.
That's whats nice about linux. There are always multiple ways of getting things done.
Please feel free to chime in on my instructions if you see something I am doing wrong, or a better way. It won't offend me, I am always willing to learn a better way.
Fred
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
when i try find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm
i get rm: missing operand
Try `rm --help' for more information.
i looked at help and put find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm -- *.jpeg foo
result rm: cannot remove `*.jpeg': No such file or directory
and find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm -v
result rm: missing operand
and with -f same result
when i try find . -type f -name "*.jpeg" -exec rm -f {} \;
result is nothing as far as can tell...files still there
i did try both under root and normal terminals and tried .jpeg and .jpg in the command lines
i very much appreciate the help proved thusfar. much obliged. i think the solutions provided thusfar are close.
good day
i get rm: missing operand
Try `rm --help' for more information.
i looked at help and put find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm -- *.jpeg foo
result rm: cannot remove `*.jpeg': No such file or directory
and find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm -v
result rm: missing operand
and with -f same result
when i try find . -type f -name "*.jpeg" -exec rm -f {} \;
result is nothing as far as can tell...files still there
i did try both under root and normal terminals and tried .jpeg and .jpg in the command lines
i very much appreciate the help proved thusfar. much obliged. i think the solutions provided thusfar are close.
good day
Last edited by psyodin on Mon May 12, 2008 1:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
psyodin,
I wouldn't think you would need it but put this in:
find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm *.jpeg
Fred
I wouldn't think you would need it but put this in:
find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm *.jpeg
Fred
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
i made a small temp file on my desktop called temp that has subfolders,mp3's and jpg's to try all this out on just in case
myputer@myputer:~$ cd /home/level5ive/Desktop/temp
myputer@myputer:~/Desktop/temp$ find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm *.jpeg
rm: cannot remove `*.jpeg': No such file or directory
myputer@myputer:~$ cd /home/level5ive/Desktop/temp
myputer@myputer:~/Desktop/temp$ find . -name \*.jpg | xargs rm *.jpg
rm: cannot remove `*.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Fireflies/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Fireflies/AlbumArt_{CF99805B-E9CE-440E-8F6A-E3187FD0541F}_Large.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Fireflies/Folder.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Fireflies/AlbumArt_{CF99805B-E9CE-440E-8F6A-E3187FD0541F}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/AlbumArt_{9E97E25A-3B52-4C5A-AA63-7BFD552F454D}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/AlbumArt_{9E97E25A-3B52-4C5A-AA63-7BFD552F454D}_Large.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Folder.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Celtic': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Woman/AlbumArt_{5C069418-EE88-46F0-8819-1F3042732D0C}_Large.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Celtic': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Woman/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Celtic': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Woman/Folder.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Celtic': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Woman/AlbumArt_{5C069418-EE88-46F0-8819-1F3042732D0C}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Dreamworld-': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Essential': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Late': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Night': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Listening/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Dreamworld-': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Essential': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Late': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Night': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Listening/AlbumArt_{753CEB90-141E-42BE-AE6B-B545B970C483}_Large.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Dreamworld-': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Essential': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Late': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Night': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Listening/Folder.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Dreamworld-': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Essential': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Late': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Night': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Listening/AlbumArt_{753CEB90-141E-42BE-AE6B-B545B970C483}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Eric': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Clapton/Journeyman/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Eric': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Clapton/Journeyman/AlbumArt_{4C0F28EF-00DA-4AAC-B7E4-78D17C546ACC}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
heh. its all good i can go thru manually delete things.....my only other option is too transfer to an external HD and use a puter with XP on it then search and delete that way. thanks again
myputer@myputer:~$ cd /home/level5ive/Desktop/temp
myputer@myputer:~/Desktop/temp$ find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs rm *.jpeg
rm: cannot remove `*.jpeg': No such file or directory
myputer@myputer:~$ cd /home/level5ive/Desktop/temp
myputer@myputer:~/Desktop/temp$ find . -name \*.jpg | xargs rm *.jpg
rm: cannot remove `*.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Fireflies/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Fireflies/AlbumArt_{CF99805B-E9CE-440E-8F6A-E3187FD0541F}_Large.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Fireflies/Folder.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Fireflies/AlbumArt_{CF99805B-E9CE-440E-8F6A-E3187FD0541F}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/AlbumArt_{9E97E25A-3B52-4C5A-AA63-7BFD552F454D}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/AlbumArt_{9E97E25A-3B52-4C5A-AA63-7BFD552F454D}_Large.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Faith': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Hill/Folder.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Celtic': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Woman/AlbumArt_{5C069418-EE88-46F0-8819-1F3042732D0C}_Large.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Celtic': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Woman/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Celtic': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Woman/Folder.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Celtic': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Woman/AlbumArt_{5C069418-EE88-46F0-8819-1F3042732D0C}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Dreamworld-': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Essential': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Late': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Night': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Listening/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Dreamworld-': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Essential': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Late': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Night': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Listening/AlbumArt_{753CEB90-141E-42BE-AE6B-B545B970C483}_Large.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Dreamworld-': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Essential': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Late': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Night': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Listening/Folder.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Dreamworld-': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Essential': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Late': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Night': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Listening/AlbumArt_{753CEB90-141E-42BE-AE6B-B545B970C483}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Eric': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Clapton/Journeyman/AlbumArtSmall.jpg': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `./Eric': No such file or directory
rm: cannot remove `Clapton/Journeyman/AlbumArt_{4C0F28EF-00DA-4AAC-B7E4-78D17C546ACC}_Small.jpg': No such file or directory
heh. its all good i can go thru manually delete things.....my only other option is too transfer to an external HD and use a puter with XP on it then search and delete that way. thanks again
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
psyodin
find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs -0 rm
see if this does it.. you may need sudo.
sudo find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs -0 rm
find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs -0 rm
see if this does it.. you may need sudo.
sudo find . -name \*.jpeg | xargs -0 rm
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
ok got it to work i used
find . -type f -name "*.jpg" -exec rm -f {} \;
having changed jpeg to jpg
thanks all for the help and its prolly my error(s) that made other options not work
muchas gracias amigos
edit: ill try that other way too and see what happens
thanks again
find . -type f -name "*.jpg" -exec rm -f {} \;
having changed jpeg to jpg
thanks all for the help and its prolly my error(s) that made other options not work
muchas gracias amigos
edit: ill try that other way too and see what happens
thanks again
Last edited by psyodin on Mon May 12, 2008 2:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
psyodin,
Well I did have a mistake in my first post. it should have been:
find . -name \*.jpg | xargs -0 rm
All is well that ends well though.
Fred
Well I did have a mistake in my first post. it should have been:
find . -name \*.jpg | xargs -0 rm
All is well that ends well though.
Fred
Re: removing one file type from a large file collection
ahh
well indeed it did end well
your very kind
good evening sir
well indeed it did end well
your very kind
good evening sir