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How can I delete content of all directories with a certain name?

I have a directory structure with many build directories inside. I want remove their content (all files and sub-directories), but leave the directory itself (so there will be empty build directory).

I was trying adapt solution proposed in this question: How to remove folders with a certain name however after executing this command:

find . -name "build" -type d -exec rm -r "{}/*" \;

I got a responses (for each found match)

rm: cannot remove './path/to/found/build/*': No such file or directory

When I call directly

rm -r ./path/to/found/build/*

All files inside are removed (as expected)

jakkubu
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1 Answers1

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To get the * in -exec rm -r "{}/*" expanded you would need to run a shell instead of executing rm directly, but with this option you must be careful not to introduce a command injection vulnerability. (see https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/156010/330217)

Another option is to use -path instead of -name

find . -path '*/build/*' -exec rm -r "{}" \; -prune

Option -prune is to avoid descending into a directory that has been removed before.

Bodo
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