rsync --remove-source-files but only those that match a pattern

Posted by user28146 on Super User See other posts from Super User or by user28146
Published on 2010-02-13T15:23:24Z Indexed on 2012/06/28 15:19 UTC
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Is this possible with rsync?

Transfer everything from src:path/to/dir to dest:/path/to/other/dir and delete some of the source files in src:path/to/dir that match a pattern (or size limit) but keep all other files. I couldn't find a way to limit --remove-source-files with a regexp or size limit.

Update1 (clarification): I'd like all files in src:path/to/dir to be copied to dest:/path/to/other/dir. Once this is done, I'd like to have some files (those that match a regexp or size limit) in src:path/to/dir deleted but don't want to have anything deleted in dest:/path/to/other/dir.

Update2 (more clarification): Unfortunately, I can't simply rsync everything and then manually delete the files matching my regexp from src:. The files to be deleted are continuously created.

So let's say there are N files of the type I'd like to delete after the transfer in src: when rsync starts. By the time rsync finishes there will be N+M such files there. If I now delete them manually, I'll lose the M files that were created while rsync was running.

Hence I'd like to have a solution that guarantees that the only files deleted from src: are those known to be successfully copied over to dest:. I could fetch a file list from dest: after the rsync is complete, and compare that list of files with what I have in src:, and then do the removal manually. But I was wondering if rsync can do this by itself.

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