How to check if a file starting with specific text exists in a folder using Bash?

Question

Using bash commands, I want to check if a file starting with "hello_" exists in the "/backup/" directory and delete it if it does. I am not sure how to check the existence of the file. Can I get bash commands for this?

Answer 1

You can use the following Bash command to check if a file starting with "hello_" exists in the /backup/ directory and delete it if it does:

if ls /backup/hello_* 1> /dev/null 2>&1; then
    rm /backup/hello_*
    echo "Files deleted"
else
    echo "No matching files found"
fi

• ls /backup/hello_* lists files in the /backup/ folder that start with "hello_". 
• 1> /dev/null redirects standard output to /dev/null to suppress it. 
• 2>&1 redirects standard error (if no files exist) to standard output to suppress it.
• If files exist, it proceeds with deletion, otherwise, it goes to the else part.