I'm trying to use the find and execute commands to remove *.html files
in various subdirectories within a single directory but the command
returns "missing argument to `-exec'
the command I've entered is:
find -type f -exec rm -rf"
followed by the path, followed by:
-iname '*.html'
Find alone has found all the files but I'm not understanding what is
wrong with the syntax "-exec rm -rf"
Can someone see an obvious error?
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On 14 January 2012 11:19, CJ Tres <ctres@grics.net> wrote:
> I'm trying to use the find and execute commands to remove *.html files in
> various subdirectories within a single directory but the command returns
> "missing argument to `-exec'
>
> the command I've entered is:
> find -type f -exec rm -rf"
> followed by the path, followed by:
> -iname '*.html'
>
> Find alone has found all the files but I'm not understanding what is wrong
> with the syntax "-exec rm -rf"
>
> Can someone see an obvious error?
man find shows an example similar to your requirement
find . -type f -exec file '{}' ;
which suggests that you have got some bits missing from the exec spec.
Colin
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01-14-2012, 10:42 AM
PleegWat
exec command
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
On 01/14/2012 12:19 PM, CJ Tres wrote:
> I'm trying to use the find and execute commands to remove *.html
> files in various subdirectories within a single directory but the
> command returns "missing argument to `-exec'
>
> the command I've entered is: find -type f -exec rm -rf" followed by
> the path, followed by: -iname '*.html'
>
> Find alone has found all the files but I'm not understanding what
> is wrong with the syntax "-exec rm -rf"
>
> Can someone see an obvious error?
>
You need to terminate the argument to -exec with a ;, which needs to
be quoted or escaped for the shell, and you need to include an
argument of {} which will be replaced by the name of the file find has
found. You also seem to have confused the argument order to find.
Here you should fill your path for $path.
Specifically when deleting files, you may also use the find action
- -delete, which has the same effect as -exec rm:
find $path -type f -iname '*.html' -delete
This version should be faster when a lot of files need to be deleted.
PleegWat
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Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/
exec command
