Remove files in a directory based on partial name

Question

I wanted to know what is the best way to remove any files no matter what their extension is based on a partial name.

Example:

13-05-12_foo_something.jpg
13-06-01_something.png
13-05-05_foo_site.html

rm everything in a directory and within the sub folders with _foo_ in the name.

Solution 1

The simple way:

cd /path/to/directory
rm *_foo_*

or

rm /path/to/directory/*_foo_*

The asterisk (*) matches all characters.

To get explanations about what is being done, use rm with -v option. To be prompted before every removal, use rm with -i option:

rm -vi *_foo_*

See man rm for more info.

Solution 2

If you want to do it in all subdirectories too, the easiest way is to enable the globstar shell option:

shopt -s globstar
rm **/*foo_*

There should be a commented (i.e. starting with a #) line in the default ~/.bashrc (line 29 in mine):

# shopt -s globstar extglob

Just uncomment that line and you'll have access to some improved bash features.

Comments

[Ilia Hanev]

Thanks I was unaware you could do that with * before and after.

[Radu Rădeanu]

@Matt_2.0 You can use it as many times as you want: rm *foo_1*foo_2*...*foo_n*