i want to delete all files via shell except few as but results in Syntax error: "(" unexpected

Question

rm -rf  * ! ( "update.sh" | "new_update"  )    #or


rm -rf   ! ( "update.sh" | "new_update"  )     #or


rm -rf   ! ( update.sh | new_update  )         #or

I want to delete all files except update.sh and new_update

I have tired above all lines one by one in shell script but return error

unexpected token (

and when run directly on terminal some times executes and some times gives same error as above

Answer 1

First, you have to enable extended globbing with

shopt -s extglob

Then you can't have spaces between the parts of the wildcard.

rm -rf !(update.sh|new_update)

Answer 2

You can use grep -v to invert match, -w for whole words and -E fir regex to be able add more files.

rm $( printf '%s\n' * | grep -Ewv "update.sh|new_update" )

I don't guarantee it to work with filenames containing spaces and other crazy characters.

Safer option that requires gnu extensions is: ( read here more details)

printf '%s\0' * | grep -zEv '^(update.sh|new_update)$' | xargs -0 rm --

Ed: as commentator accuse ls and xargs of being 'dangerous' ( here is why) I keep it for the record.

ls * | grep -Ev "update.sh|new_update" | xargs rm