Delete all but latest two files matching wildcard

Question

import glob
import os
filelist=glob.glob("/home/test/*.txt")
for file in filelist:
  os.remove(file)

I'm able to delete all files through above code. But I don't want to delete latest 2 files out of 10 txt files.Rest of them wanted to be deleted. Can someone help me please?

Edit:

I tried index to exclude last 2 files, Got different output. Files

-rwxrwxr-x 1 test1 test 14 May 27 2015 test.txt 
-rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 1857 Nov 9 2016 list.txt 
-rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 140 Jun 8 22:09 check.txt 
-rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 570 Jun 8 22:12 ert.txt 
-rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 0 Jul 2 03:17 1.txt 
-rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 0 Jul 2 03:17 2.txt

My new code is:

import glob import os 
filelist=glob.glob("/home/test/*.txt") 
for file in filelist[:-2]: 
    print file

Output

> /home/test/1.txt 
> /home/test/2.txt
> /home/test/list.txt  
> /home/test/ert.txt

Just write `for file in filelist[:-2]:` instead of `for file in filelist:`. — Ali Shahrivarian, Jul 02 '18 at 07:28
I think you meant *"all but latest two files matching wildcard"* so I edited your title for you to be clearer — smci, Jul 02 '18 at 07:32
If you know which files you want to delete then use a `sort` function and get what you desired. `date`, `time`, `size` or anything else you want. Please clarify that. — Ali Shahrivarian, Jul 02 '18 at 08:51
Thanks for your input.through this, i able to get output perfectly — Victory, Jul 02 '18 at 08:53

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 02 '18 at 07:23

2

You can sort your filelist using os.stat(f).st_mtime as the sorting key:

filelist = sorted(filelist, key=lambda f: os.stat(f).st_mtime)

Afterwards you iterate over filelist, excluding the last two files:

for f in filelist[:-2]:
    os.remove(f)

answered Jul 02 '18 at 07:23

Nils Werner

34,832
7
76
98

Thanks for your help. This one working perfectly for me. – Victory Jul 02 '18 at 08:52

Ali Shahrivarian · Answer 2 · 2018-07-02T08:43:48.687

1

If you want exclude last 2 items in glob maches just change your for loop:

import glob
import os
filelist=glob.glob("/home/test/*.txt")
for file in filelist[:-2]:
  os.remove(file)

Otherwise you can use others answer to sort files and exclude last 2 files.

Edit:

python 2 glob

The glob module finds all the pathnames matching a specified pattern according to the rules used by the Unix shell, although results are returned in arbitrary order.

Also have a look at this:

How is Pythons glob.glob ordered?

edited Jul 02 '18 at 08:43

answered Jul 02 '18 at 07:32

Ali Shahrivarian

311
2
11

I tried,Got different output. Files -rwxrwxr-x 1 test1 test 14 May 27 2015 test.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 1857 Nov 9 2016 list.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 140 Jun 8 22:09 check.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 570 Jun 8 22:12 ert.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 0 Jul 2 03:17 1.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 test1 test 0 Jul 2 03:17 2.txt import glob import os filelist=glob.glob("/home/test/*.txt") for file in filelist[:-2]: print file /home/test/1.txt /home/test/wars.txt /home/test/Renewal_Certificate_RSA.txt /home/test/2.txt – Victory Jul 02 '18 at 08:28
@Victory so what is the problem? – Ali Shahrivarian Jul 02 '18 at 08:33
latest 2 files was included in output. I want delete all files except latest 2 files – Victory Jul 02 '18 at 08:38

Delete all but latest two files matching wildcard

2 Answers2