delete everything but one directory

Question

I've got a /tmp/test directory. In it I've got a mixture of files and directories. One of those directories is /tmp/test/to_be_kept. Now I'd like to know how do I delete all the files and directories apart from /tmp/test/to_be_kept and everything what's in it? Thanks

Answer 1

shopt -s extglob
rm -r /tmp/test/!(to_be_kept)

Answer 2

This will produce some error messages which you can ignore when it tries to re-access directories that have already been removed:

find /tmp/test -mindepth 1 -type d -name to_be_kept -prune -o -exec rm -rf {} \;

Answer 3

• Here is a simple way:

  ls /tmp/test | grep -v to_be_kept | xargs rm -r
  

• If you want to delete hidden also:

  ls -a /tmp/test | grep -v to_be_kept | xargs rm -r
  

Always test the output first!

Try these first without the | xargs rm -r part! If you get the list of files and directories you wanted to delete you may as well apply...