Delete elements caught from a file

Question

I have multiple .mkv files in eng.md which listed by codes

    $ grep -i 'mkv' eng.md
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/The.Adventure.of.English.Ep4.mkv
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/The.Adventure.of.English.Ep5.mkv
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/The.Adventure.of.English.Ep6.mkv
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/The.Adventure.of.English.Ep7.mkv
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/._The.Adventure.of.English.Ep4.mkv
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/The.Adventure.of.English.Ep8.mkv
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/._The.Adventure.of.English.Ep8.mkv
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/._The.Adventure.of.English.Ep5.mkv
    ./Volumes/Transcend/Downloads/._The.Adventure.of.English.Ep6.mkv

I decide to remove mkv files with pipeline methods and try

$ rm < grep -i 'mkv' eng.md
-bash: grep: No such file or directory

Try alternatively

$ grep -i 'mkv' eng.md | rm 
usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...
       unlink file
grep: eng.md: No such file or directory

How to resolve such a problem?

This would also delete files named `foo/bar/mkv/x.txt` and `blablabla.MKV`. — user1934428, Mar 26 '18 at 05:58

agc · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-09T15:56:13.657

4

Like this, (unless it's some huge list of files that exceeds the command line maximum length):

rm $(grep -i mkv eng.md)

edited Apr 09 '18 at 15:56

answered Mar 26 '18 at 04:43

agc

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1

It maybe should be noted that this works unless there are "too many" mkv files, while the solution posted by @shirish works for any number of mkv files. – user1934428 Mar 26 '18 at 05:57
and also I would recommend to use `\.mkv$` for the grep pattern who knows if there is `mkv` in the file name of some records – Allan Mar 26 '18 at 05:59
Yes, and the `-i` should be dropped. I put everything together in an answer. – user1934428 Mar 26 '18 at 06:02

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 26 '18 at 06:01

3

Since neither of the comments really gave a solution which works for every situation, I propose here an approach slightly modified from what shirish suggested in his comment:

grep '[.]mkv$' eng.md | xargs rm

answered Mar 26 '18 at 06:01

user1934428

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Delete elements caught from a file

2 Answers2