How to delete only directories and leave files untouched

UnixDirectoryRm

Unix Problem Overview


I have hundreds of directories and files in one directory.

What is the best way deleting only directories (no matter if the directories have anything in it or not, just delete them all)

Currently I use ls -1 -d */, and record them in a file, and do sed, and then run it. It rather long way. I'm looking for better way deleting only directories

Unix Solutions


Solution 1 - Unix

To delete all directories and subdirectories and leave only files in the working directory, I have found this concise command works for me:

rm -r */

It makes use of bash wildcard */ where star followed by slash will match only directories and subdirectories.

Solution 2 - Unix

find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d

then

find . -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d -exec rm -rf '{}' \;

To add an explanation:

find starts in the current directory due to . and stays within the current directory only with -maxdepth and -mindepth both set to 1. -type d tells find to only match on things that are directories.

find also has an -exec flag that can pass its results to another function, in this case rm. the '{}' \; is the way these results are passed. See this answer for a more complete explanation of what {} and \; do

Solution 3 - Unix

First, run:

find /path -d -type d

to make sure the output looks sane, then:

find /path -d -type d -exec rm -rf '{}' \;

-type d looks only for directories, then -d makes sure to put child directories before the parent.

Solution 4 - Unix

Simple way :-

rm -rf `ls -d */`

Solution 5 - Unix

find command only (it support file deletion)\

find /path -depth -type d -delete

-type d looks only for directories, then -depth makes sure to put child directories before the parent. -delete removing filtered files/folders

Solution 6 - Unix

In one line:

rm -R `ls -1 -d */`

(backquotes)

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