- 1 year ago
How to search/delete multiple subfolders?
To search and delete multiple subfolders, you can use the command-line interface and leverage the power of the find
and rmdir
commands (or rm
command in Linux/macOS). Here's how you can perform the search and deletion process:
Search for Subfolders:
- Open a terminal or command prompt.
- Navigate to the parent folder that contains the subfolders you want to search and delete.
- Use the
find
command with the appropriate options to locate the subfolders. For example, to search for subfolders named "subfolder1" and "subfolder2", you can use the following command:
This command searches for directories (bashfind . -type d -name "subfolder1" -o -name "subfolder2"
-type d
) with the names "subfolder1" and "subfolder2" within the current directory and its subdirectories.
Delete Subfolders:
Before performing any deletion, ensure you have a backup of important data in case of accidental deletion.
Modify the
find
command from the previous step to include the-exec
option to execute the deletion command on the found subfolders. For example:bashfind . -type d -name "subfolder1" -o -name "subfolder2" -exec rm -r {} \;
This command executes the
rm -r
command on each found subfolder to recursively remove them.Note: The command
rm -r
deletes directories and their contents. If you want to delete only empty directories, you can use thermdir
command instead:bashfind . -type d -name "subfolder1" -o -name "subfolder2" -exec rmdir {} \;
Adjust the options and names according to your specific requirements. You can add more
-name
options or modify the pattern to match different subfolders.
By following these steps, you can search for and delete multiple subfolders using the command-line interface. Be cautious when performing deletion operations, double-check the command, and ensure you have the necessary permissions and backups to avoid unintentional data loss.