How to delete file.* but keep file.txt?

Question

In bash, how to delete all the files starting with file using file* but keep file.txt?

I tried this

shopt -s extglob

rm file* !(file.txt)

But the file.txt is still deleted.

PS: I only need to delete the files starting with file, not all the files. E.g. I want a file named food.txt still kept.

Better asked @ https://unix.stackexchange.com/ – Alex K. Jan 19 '18 at 17:29 — Alex K., Jan 19 '18 at 17:29

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 19 '18 at 17:29

6

You need to use the "negative" pattern match as the file extension:

$ ls file.*
file.csv  file.json  file.txt  file.xml

$ ls file.!(txt)
file.csv  file.json  file.xml

answered Jan 19 '18 at 17:29

glenn jackman

1

If you get an error like `bash: !: event not found`, enable bash's extended globbing with `shopt -s extglob` – that other guy Jan 19 '18 at 18:27

James Patrick · Answer 2 · 2018-01-19T17:57:29.960

1

The find command can help you here. For example:

find . -maxdepth 1 -not -name 'file.*' -not -name '*.txt' -delete

edited Jan 19 '18 at 17:57

answered Jan 19 '18 at 17:31

James Patrick

but I only need to delete the files starting with `file`, not all the files. – lanselibai Jan 19 '18 at 17:32
Apologies. Was hasty. Modified suggestion and tested. – James Patrick Jan 19 '18 at 17:58

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 19 '18 at 17:36

1

find approach:

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name 'file*' ! -name "file.txt" -delete

answered Jan 19 '18 at 17:36

RomanPerekhrest

3 Answers3