Search for all files that begin with . and delete them.

find ~/Desktop/ \( -regex '.*/\..*' \) -print -exec rm -Rf {} \;
Sample Output 
maggie:~ root# find ~/Desktop/ \( -regex '.*/\..*' \) -print -exec rm -Rf {} \;
~/Desktop/.DS_Store
~/Desktop/.fseventsd

-6
By: unixmonkey4063
2009-06-02 19:45:06
find rm hidden find
4
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What Others Think

Noooooooo! Nooooooo! Don't do it! Among other things, '.*' matches '.' and '..' and EVERY FILE PATH WITH DOT.
CharlieInCO · 879 weeks and 3 days ago
@CharlieInCO The regex is matching anything (file/directory/socket/etc) that has a leading '.' at any depth inside ~/Desktop/. I just tested on my system: mkdir ~/Desktop/test.directory does not match. (Ubuntu with bash) To get anything with a single dot anywhere you just need to drop the forward slash. Sometimes you need to slash and burn and this command is it. :-) Also I think the \( and \) are unnecessary, and the -exec section can replace the trailing \; with + and avoid invoking rm once per match. New version: find ~/Desktop/ -regex '.*/\..*' -exec rm -RF {} +
bwoodacre · 879 weeks and 3 days ago
whoops, I meant 'rm -Rf' as the original command stated.
bwoodacre · 879 weeks and 3 days ago
Sorry, confusing phrasing. I mean "with DOT as directory." With luck, you have nothing under Desktop that you care about. I got, eg, /Users/chasrmartin/Desktop/.DS_Store /Users/chasrmartin/Desktop/.localized /Users/chasrmartin/Desktop/Documentation/.DS_Store /Users/chasrmartin/Desktop/Documentation/man/.DS_Store /Users/chasrmartin/Desktop/pforth_export/build/.DS_Store But pick another directory, and here are a selection of things it hits /Users/chasrmartin/.emacs.d /Users/chasrmartin/.emacs.d/auto-save-list /Users/chasrmartin/.emacs.d/auto-save-list/.saves-345-Bradbury.local~ /Users/chasrmartin/.ssh /Users/chasrmartin/.ssh/known_hosts All .svn files .bashrc
CharlieInCO · 879 weeks and 3 days ago

What do you think?

Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?

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