Unable To Remove Files From Directory with Error 'Argument list too long' From Command Line (Doc ID 2400796.1)

Last updated on FEBRUARY 02, 2022

Applies to:

Symptoms

 While trying to list or interact with large number of files from command line it results with following error:

$ ls -l *.xml | wc -l
bash: /bin/ls: Argument list too long
0
$ rm *.xml
bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long

$ ls -l | wc -l
325532

or when trying to delete large number of files using find command it fails with below error message:

$ find /u01/oracle/apps/fs1/EBSapps/appl/xdo/12.0.0/temp/*.xml -mtime +120 -exec rm -v {} \;
bash: /usr/bin/find: Argument list too long

Cause

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