MacOS – Terminal command to delete all images in folder and subfolders

macosterminal

I need a terminal command to delete all images (*.jpg, *.png, *.gif, *.JPG, *.PNG, *.GIF) stored in myfolder and its subfolders, preserving the folders structure. I do not need to move them to trash folder.

I guess that some regular expressions are needed, but this overcomes my skills.

Best Answer

To just list them (for review/verification):

find MYFOLDER -type f \( -iname '*.jpg' -o -iname '*.png' -o -iname '*.gif' \) -ls

To move them to the Trash:

find MYFOLDER -type f \( -iname '*.jpg' -o -iname '*.png' -o -iname '*.gif' \) -exec mv '{}' ~/.Trash/ \;

To delete them directly (no way to get them back unless you have a backup):

find MYFOLDER -type f \( -iname '*.jpg' -o -iname '*.png' -o -iname '*.gif' \) -delete

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MacOS – Shell script: Move folders + preserve structure

Assuming that all the folders to be archived are directly in .../Completed Projects, the use of find (which traverses the whole folder hierarchy) might actually do more harm than good.

A revised version could look like

#!/bin/bash

# Go to the Completed Projects folder.
cd /Volumes/communications/Projects/Completed\ Projects/

# Find a folder with a specified string (e.g. "Academics") in its name.
# Move (not copy) the folder to its corresponding sub-folder of the Archived Projects folder. (e.g. /Academics)

for folder in *; do
    if [[ -d "$folder" ]]; then
        echo "Moving $folder";
        if [[ "$folder" == *Academics* ]]; then
            mv "$folder" /Volumes/communications/Projects/Archived\ Projects/Academics/
        fi
    fi
done

MacOS – Terminal command to move a number of files containing brackets to another folder or trash

Simply use Spotlight in Finder to search for files with *(1).mp3 etc. Begin a new Spotlight search, add a Raw Query rule and use the following, then select all and delete.

kMDItemDisplayName=='*(1).mp3'

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MacOS – Shell script: Move folders + preserve structure

MacOS – Terminal command to move a number of files containing brackets to another folder or trash

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