"Argument list too long" - help with deleting files based on grep

[rob6566]

Hi,

I've got a directory with thousands of files and I want to delete those that contain specific text.

When I try:

ls | grep -l "specific text" * | xargs rm

I get the error:

/bin/grep: Argument list too long

Is there an easy way to get around this without having to move files into seperate folders and processing them in batches? I found an article on getting around this problem, but I'm kind of new to Linux and don't know how to apply this to my specific problem.

Thanks

[Piyu_86]

i dont think there is need of ls command in the front grep will search all the files in that directory .
try without ls or you can try

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f | xargs grep -l "specific text" | xargs rm -rf

this might work . cant check as i dont have system ryt now

[rob6566]

Thanks Piyu, that worked perfectly !

[Piyu_86]

welcome rob but let me know have you tried ur command without ls
it worked or not