On Mon, 2005-01-03 at 17:59 +0200, Stuart Lamble wrote: > Hi Russell > > I have tried that, but I now get bash: xarg: Argument list too long. > > I am actually taking a directory of some 4000 image files, all about 11kb in > size and using another program, writing them to an *.avi file. > I then delete all the separate image files, where rm also complains with the > same error. > > Any other sugestions? > > Where would be the best place to ask kernel questions? > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: fedora-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx > > [mailto:fedora-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Russell Kaiser > > Sent: Monday, January 03, 2005 12:11 PM > > To: For users of Fedora Core releases > > Subject: Re: MAX_ARG_PAGES > > > > I have hit this problem before when doing "rm *" in a > > directory with lots and lots of files. The way to get around > > this problem when deleting a large number of files like that > > is to use the xargs command with rm. Here are a few examples > > of this. Google xargs with rm and you will see a few others: > > > > http://freebooks.by.ru/view/ShellProgIn24h/31480122.htm > > > > http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6060 > > > > This doesn't address what you are trying to do in the kernel, > > but is one solution to your argument list too long issue. > > > > -- > > Russell Kaiser > > Russell.Kaiser@xxxxxxxxx > > > > -- > > fedora-list mailing list > > fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx > > To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list > > > > russell - xargs is exactly what you want, i think. but, you may not be using it quite right. in the directory where you want to delete the files, try this: ls *.avi | xargs rm ls will put out a list of the avi files on its standard out, which will get sucked in by xargs. xargs will then fill up a command line buffer with those files and run rm on them. and repeat the process until there are no files left in it's standard input to give to rm. thus rm will be run the minimum number of times necessary, with all but the last command line buffer full. john
