Delete all files but keep all directories in a bash script?
bash, shell
Solution
find dir -type f -print0 | xargs -0 rm
`find` lists all files that match certain expression in a given directory, recursively. `-type f` matches regular files. `-print0` is for printing out names using `\0` as delimiter (as any other character, including `\n`, might be in a path name). `xargs` is for gathering the file names from standard input and putting them as a parameters. `-0` is to make sure `xargs` will understand the `\0` delimiter.
`xargs` is wise enough to call `rm` multiple times if the parameter list would get too big. So it is much better than trying to call sth. like `rm $((find ...)`. Also it much faster than calling `rm` for each file by itself, like `find ... -exec rm \{\}`.
Problem
I'm trying to do something which is probably very simple, I have a directory structure such as: ``` dir/ subdir1/ subdir2/ file1 file2 subsubdir1/ file3 ``` I would like to run a command in a bash script that will delete all files recursively from dir on down, but leave all directories. Ie: ``` dir/ subdir1/ subdir2/ subsubdir1 ``` What would be a suitable command for this?