Delete empty subfolders, keep parent folderHelp with rsync excludes not workingDelete certain filetypes and empty folders within a folder and subfoldersUnderstanding rm commandRename files in subfolders with parent folder namesShould one call this an inverse differential backup and how does one achieve it?Writing an alias that puts a folder and its subfolders/files into an encrypted archive titled with the dateScript for “extracting” subfolders into parent folderDelete the parent directory (non-empty) if a specific child directory is emptyDelete old backup folders from directory using cronrsync back error 23 on Thunderbird file
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Delete empty subfolders, keep parent folder
Help with rsync excludes not workingDelete certain filetypes and empty folders within a folder and subfoldersUnderstanding rm commandRename files in subfolders with parent folder namesShould one call this an inverse differential backup and how does one achieve it?Writing an alias that puts a folder and its subfolders/files into an encrypted archive titled with the dateScript for “extracting” subfolders into parent folderDelete the parent directory (non-empty) if a specific child directory is emptyDelete old backup folders from directory using cronrsync back error 23 on Thunderbird file
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
When I use
find /home/user/parentdir -type d -empty -delete
it looks recursively for empty subfolders inside /home/user/parentdir and deletes. But if /home/user/parentdir is also empty, it deletes the parent folder, which is undesirable for me.
I keep this parentdir to rsync some files to backup or cloud, after process I need to delete empty folders, but seems unproductive to recreate it every time.
Any suggestions to keep parentdir? I thought about creating a ".nocopy" file inside parentdir and exclude it from rsync, but looks like overkill. There is a more elegant way?
command-line bash rsync find
asked 8 hours ago
TNTTNT
1134 bronze badges
add a comment
|
When I use
find /home/user/parentdir -type d -empty -delete
it looks recursively for empty subfolders inside /home/user/parentdir and deletes. But if /home/user/parentdir is also empty, it deletes the parent folder, which is undesirable for me.
I keep this parentdir to rsync some files to backup or cloud, after process I need to delete empty folders, but seems unproductive to recreate it every time.
Any suggestions to keep parentdir? I thought about creating a ".nocopy" file inside parentdir and exclude it from rsync, but looks like overkill. There is a more elegant way?
command-line bash rsync find
asked 8 hours ago
TNTTNT
1134 bronze badges
if you add a forward slash / to the end of /parentdir (ie /parentdir/)does that make a difference?
– Graham
8 hours ago
1
-mindepth 1?
– steeldriver
8 hours ago
@Graham /parentdir/ deletes parentdir too, so makes no difference.
– TNT
7 hours ago
ah, I see I missed the * at the end which @Amourk mentions in his answer.
– Graham
7 hours ago
add a comment
|
When I use
find /home/user/parentdir -type d -empty -delete
it looks recursively for empty subfolders inside /home/user/parentdir and deletes. But if /home/user/parentdir is also empty, it deletes the parent folder, which is undesirable for me.
I keep this parentdir to rsync some files to backup or cloud, after process I need to delete empty folders, but seems unproductive to recreate it every time.
Any suggestions to keep parentdir? I thought about creating a ".nocopy" file inside parentdir and exclude it from rsync, but looks like overkill. There is a more elegant way?
command-line bash rsync find
asked 8 hours ago
TNTTNT
1134 bronze badges
When I use
find /home/user/parentdir -type d -empty -delete
it looks recursively for empty subfolders inside /home/user/parentdir and deletes. But if /home/user/parentdir is also empty, it deletes the parent folder, which is undesirable for me.
I keep this parentdir to rsync some files to backup or cloud, after process I need to delete empty folders, but seems unproductive to recreate it every time.
Any suggestions to keep parentdir? I thought about creating a ".nocopy" file inside parentdir and exclude it from rsync, but looks like overkill. There is a more elegant way?
command-line bash rsync find
command-line bash rsync find
asked 8 hours ago
TNTTNT
1134 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
TNTTNT
1134 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
TNTTNT
1134 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
TNTTNT
1134 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
TNTTNT
1134 bronze badges
1134 bronze badges
if you add a forward slash / to the end of /parentdir (ie /parentdir/)does that make a difference?
– Graham
8 hours ago
1
-mindepth 1?
– steeldriver
8 hours ago
@Graham /parentdir/ deletes parentdir too, so makes no difference.
– TNT
7 hours ago
ah, I see I missed the * at the end which @Amourk mentions in his answer.
– Graham
7 hours ago
add a comment
|
if you add a forward slash / to the end of /parentdir (ie /parentdir/)does that make a difference?
– Graham
8 hours ago
1
-mindepth 1?
– steeldriver
8 hours ago
@Graham /parentdir/ deletes parentdir too, so makes no difference.
– TNT
7 hours ago
ah, I see I missed the * at the end which @Amourk mentions in his answer.
– Graham
7 hours ago
if you add a forward slash / to the end of /parentdir (ie /parentdir/)does that make a difference?
– Graham
8 hours ago
if you add a forward slash / to the end of /parentdir (ie /parentdir/)does that make a difference?
– Graham
8 hours ago
1
1
-mindepth 1 ?– steeldriver
8 hours ago
-mindepth 1 ?– steeldriver
8 hours ago
@Graham /parentdir/ deletes parentdir too, so makes no difference.
– TNT
7 hours ago
@Graham /parentdir/ deletes parentdir too, so makes no difference.
– TNT
7 hours ago
ah, I see I missed the * at the end which @Amourk mentions in his answer.
– Graham
7 hours ago
ah, I see I missed the * at the end which @Amourk mentions in his answer.
– Graham
7 hours ago
add a comment
|
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
By adding /* to the end of parentdir, you are performing the action on all subdirs of parentdir rather than on parentdir itself. And so in the same way /home/user/ is not deleted in the old command, parentdir will not be not be deleted in the command below.* is called a glob operator and it matches any string of characters.
find /home/user/parentdir/* -type d -empty -delete
answered 8 hours ago
AmourKAmourK
1388 bronze badges
One thing to be aware of with this approach is if there is a large number of files in/home/user/parentdir/, the expanded glob may exceedARG_MAX, resulting in an argument list too long error. You could reduce the chance of that happening by changing the glob to*/so that it matches directories only.
– steeldriver
3 hours ago
add a comment
|
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
By adding /* to the end of parentdir, you are performing the action on all subdirs of parentdir rather than on parentdir itself. And so in the same way /home/user/ is not deleted in the old command, parentdir will not be not be deleted in the command below.* is called a glob operator and it matches any string of characters.
find /home/user/parentdir/* -type d -empty -delete
answered 8 hours ago
AmourKAmourK
1388 bronze badges
One thing to be aware of with this approach is if there is a large number of files in/home/user/parentdir/, the expanded glob may exceedARG_MAX, resulting in an argument list too long error. You could reduce the chance of that happening by changing the glob to*/so that it matches directories only.
– steeldriver
3 hours ago
add a comment
|
By adding /* to the end of parentdir, you are performing the action on all subdirs of parentdir rather than on parentdir itself. And so in the same way /home/user/ is not deleted in the old command, parentdir will not be not be deleted in the command below.* is called a glob operator and it matches any string of characters.
find /home/user/parentdir/* -type d -empty -delete
answered 8 hours ago
AmourKAmourK
1388 bronze badges
One thing to be aware of with this approach is if there is a large number of files in/home/user/parentdir/, the expanded glob may exceedARG_MAX, resulting in an argument list too long error. You could reduce the chance of that happening by changing the glob to*/so that it matches directories only.
– steeldriver
3 hours ago
add a comment
|
By adding /* to the end of parentdir, you are performing the action on all subdirs of parentdir rather than on parentdir itself. And so in the same way /home/user/ is not deleted in the old command, parentdir will not be not be deleted in the command below.* is called a glob operator and it matches any string of characters.
find /home/user/parentdir/* -type d -empty -delete
answered 8 hours ago
AmourKAmourK
1388 bronze badges
By adding /* to the end of parentdir, you are performing the action on all subdirs of parentdir rather than on parentdir itself. And so in the same way /home/user/ is not deleted in the old command, parentdir will not be not be deleted in the command below.* is called a glob operator and it matches any string of characters.
find /home/user/parentdir/* -type d -empty -delete
answered 8 hours ago
AmourKAmourK
1388 bronze badges
answered 8 hours ago
AmourKAmourK
1388 bronze badges
answered 8 hours ago
AmourKAmourK
1388 bronze badges
answered 8 hours ago
AmourKAmourK
1388 bronze badges
1388 bronze badges
One thing to be aware of with this approach is if there is a large number of files in/home/user/parentdir/, the expanded glob may exceedARG_MAX, resulting in an argument list too long error. You could reduce the chance of that happening by changing the glob to*/so that it matches directories only.
– steeldriver
3 hours ago
add a comment
|
One thing to be aware of with this approach is if there is a large number of files in/home/user/parentdir/, the expanded glob may exceedARG_MAX, resulting in an argument list too long error. You could reduce the chance of that happening by changing the glob to*/so that it matches directories only.
– steeldriver
3 hours ago
One thing to be aware of with this approach is if there is a large number of files in
/home/user/parentdir/, the expanded glob may exceed ARG_MAX, resulting in an argument list too long error. You could reduce the chance of that happening by changing the glob to */ so that it matches directories only.– steeldriver
3 hours ago
One thing to be aware of with this approach is if there is a large number of files in
/home/user/parentdir/, the expanded glob may exceed ARG_MAX, resulting in an argument list too long error. You could reduce the chance of that happening by changing the glob to */ so that it matches directories only.– steeldriver
3 hours ago
add a comment
|
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if you add a forward slash / to the end of /parentdir (ie /parentdir/)does that make a difference?
– Graham
8 hours ago
1
-mindepth 1?– steeldriver
8 hours ago
@Graham /parentdir/ deletes parentdir too, so makes no difference.
– TNT
7 hours ago
ah, I see I missed the * at the end which @Amourk mentions in his answer.
– Graham
7 hours ago