This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title       : 	Bash Bits: Find all files containing specific text (and remove them)
Author      : 	Remy van Elst
Date        : 	07-05-2019
URL         : 	https://raymii.org/s/snippets/Bash_Bits_Find_all_files_containing_specific_text.html
Format      : 	Markdown/HTML
---



Bash Bits are small examples and tips for Bash Scripts. This bash bit shows you
how to find all files containing specific text, and how to remove them.

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[All Bash Bits can be found using this link][2]

### Finding all files with specific text in them

For [text news][3] I convert news articles to plain text with readability.
Recently one of the sites I convert changed their HTML, causing the parsing to
fail. I fixed that in the parser, but had over 200 failed parsed articles. I
wanted to remove them all. They all contain the following string:

    
    
    Wij willen graag weten in welke omgeving u woont
    

Navigate to the folder where you want to search (recursivly):

    
    
    cd /var/gopher
    

Search for all `.txt` files which have the string in them. `grep -l` will only
write the filename of the file that contains the string.

    
    
    find -iname "*.txt" | xargs grep -l "Wij willen graag weten in welke omgeving"
    

This will give you a list of files:

    
    
    ./Dutch/www.rtvdrenthe.nl/20190428T0924_Inbraak_bij_super_Barger_Oosterveld.txt
    ./Dutch/www.rtvdrenthe.nl/20190428T1036_Hoofdprijs_Staatsloterij_valt_in_Borger_Odoorn.txt
    ./Dutch/www.rtvdrenthe.nl/20190501T1304_50Plus_en_Sterk_Lokaal_samen_verder_in_de_Staten.txt
    ./Dutch/www.rtvdrenthe.nl/20190504T1657_Live__Dodenherdenking_Westerbork__afgesloten_.txt
    ./Dutch/www.rtvdrenthe.nl/20190503T0557_Drankrijder_A28_is_rijbewijs_kwijt.txt
    

Check them by hand, and if you're sure you want to remove them, use the
following command:

    
    
    find -iname "*.txt" | xargs grep -l "Wij willen graag weten in welke omgeving" | awk '{print "rm "$1}' | bash
    

   [1]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212
   [2]: https://raymii.org/s/tags/bash-bits.html
   [3]: https://txtn.ws

---

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