Delete multiple files with regex

Question

I have folder with sub-folders with same files, for example:

 dsc_9660__content_w.jpg
 dsc_9660__content.jpg
 dsc_9660__h70.jpg
 dsc_9660__small.jpg
 dsc_9660.jpg

Suffix - is different sizes of images.

How to delete all files with suffix like this:__[a-zA-z0-9].(png|jpg|jpeg)?
And keep only original images without suffix as dsc_9660.jpg in my example

αғsнιη · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-09T17:32:54.967

Try find command with its -regex switch or -iregex (case insensitive), change your regex to .*__[a-zA-z0-9_]*\.(png|jpg|jpeg) and use the -delete option to delete the matched file:

find . -type f -regextype "posix-egrep" -iregex '.*__[a-zA-z0-9_]*\.(png|jpg|jpeg)$'

You can use other types of -regextype (which is worked) in place of "posix-egrep" like:
"posix-extended" or "posix-awk".

-regex pattern
    File  name matches regular expression pattern.  This is a match on the whole path, not a search.  For
    example, to match a file named './fubar3', you can use the regular expression '.*bar.'  or '.*b.*3',
    but not 'f.*r3'. The regular expressions understood by find are by default Emacs Regular Expres‐
    sions, but this can be changed with the -regextype option.

-iregex pattern
    Like -regex, but the match is case insensitive.

-regextype type
    Changes the regular expression syntax understood by -regex and -iregex tests which occur later on the
    command line. Currently-implemented types are emacs (this is the default), posix-awk, posix-basic,
    posix-egrep and posix-extended.

-delete
    Delete files

At the end add -delete switch to command to deleting matched files:

find . -type f -regextype "posix-egrep" -iregex '.*__[a-zA-z0-9_]*\.(png|jpg|jpeg)$' -delete

.*__[a-zA-z0-9_]*\.(png|jpg|jpeg)

The .* matches everything before __
The __ matches double underscores.
The [a-zA-z0-9_]* matches all alphanumeric and a single underscore _ characters. The * means this class of characters can be zero length.
The \. matches a single dot. To match a dot (.) literally you need to escape it within the regular expression using a backslash; without escaping, it matches any single character.
In the (png|jpg|jpeg), pair of parentheses makes it as a group of matches. Will match png or (|) jpg or jpeg.
The $ anchor, matches the end of string (or file names in this case)

Regular expression visualization

Debuggex Demo and test on files

@pepoluan Yeah, just write your regex and click "Embed on StackOverflow" link (top right corner of box). you can find more on Regular expressions converting into a diagram — αғsнιη, Jan 09 '15 at 15:40

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 09 '15 at 13:40

0

cd <dir>
find . -type f -iname \*__*.jpg -delete

answered Jan 09 '15 at 13:40

LonsomeHell

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score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 09 '15 at 11:22

-1

Try the below command,

cd <dir>
find . -type f -iname \*.jpg -delete

-type----> enter the type of the file ( __[a-zA-z0-9].(png|jpg|jpeg) )and make use of the command.

Hope this helps.

answered Jan 09 '15 at 11:22

BDRSuite

3,156
1
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In your command you are deleting All .jpg files!! – αғsнιη Jan 09 '15 at 13:14
The code in the code box appears to delete all the jpg files in the directory - I'm not sure that's actually helpful! Also, I'm not quite clear what the following line actually means (& I do use find...) as -type f indicates the "type of file" as a regular file, you can't just replace it with a regex or add one to it.. – Mark Williams Jan 09 '15 at 13:19

Delete multiple files with regex

3 Answers3