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bashgnu-findutils

How to exclude a hidden folder from being deleted

The following command will remove all files and folders in the current directory, except for those mentioned.

find . -mindepth 1 ! -path '*testResults*' ! -path '*artifacts*' ! -path '*node_modules*' -exec rm -r {} + 2>/dev/null

My question is: how to also exclude the .git hidden folder from getting deleted?

Solution

  • Use ! -name '.git':

    find . -mindepth 1 ! -path '*testResults*' ... ! -name '.git' ...

    The fact that you use ! -path but don't know about ! -name shows that you just pick some random stuff from the internet instead of looking at the right place of information: The man page! So just go ahead and type:

    man find