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Recursively Delete Files from Command Line

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I'm one of those people who can't stand a messy laptop;  I don't keep around files I don't need and I refuse to install apps unless I absolutely need them.  Unfortunately Mac OS X and Windows generate files whenever they like, like .DS_Store and Thumbs.db.  Sure they serve their purpose but that doesn't mean the clutter doesn't annoy me.

If you want to recursively find delete files you don't want, there's a simple way to do that:

find . -name '.DS_Store' -type f -delete

You can use * as a wildcard too:

find . -name '*.zip' -type f -delete

Of course my cleanup only lasts a short time, but hey -- you can use this command for more intelligent purposes!

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Discussion

  1. Tolga

    Interestingly. I only knew about -exec and xargs.

  2. Hristo
    rm find . -name '.DS_Store'
  3. Loz

    I use Asepsis for .DS_Store files: http://asepsis.binaryage.com/

  4. RoseHosting

    Just to mention that the order of the -delete flag is very important. Putting -delete flag first will make find try to delete everything below the specified starting point.

  5. Jason

    If you’re on Windows, the following will work the same:

    del /s .DS_Store
del /s Thumbs.db
  6. Eric

    Using -iname instead of -name will ignore case.

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