Flagging Many Files at Once
===========================
`#'
Flag all auto-save files (files whose names start and end with `#')
for deletion (Note:Auto Save).
`~'
Flag all backup files (files whose names end with `~') for deletion
(Note:Backup).
`&'
Flag for deletion all files with certain kinds of names, names that
suggest you could easily create the files again.
`. (Period)'
Flag excess numeric backup files for deletion. The oldest and
newest few backup files of any one file are exempt; the middle
ones are flagged.
`% d REGEXP <RET>'
Flag for deletion all files whose names match the regular
expression REGEXP.
The `#', `~', `&', and `.' commands flag many files for deletion,
based on their file names. These commands are useful precisely because
they do not themselves delete any files; you can remove the deletion
flags from any flagged files that you really wish to keep.
`&' (`dired-flag-garbage-files') flags files whose names match the
regular expression specified by the variable
`dired-garbage-files-regexp'. By default, this matches certain files
produced by TeX, `.bak' files, and the `.orig' and `.rej' files
produced by `patch'.
`#' (`dired-flag-auto-save-files') flags for deletion all files
whose names look like auto-save files (Note:Auto Save)--that is,
files whose names begin and end with `#'.
`~' (`dired-flag-backup-files') flags for deletion all files whose
names say they are backup files (Note:Backup)--that is, files whose
names end in `~'.
`.' (period, `dired-clean-directory') flags just some of the backup
files for deletion: all but the oldest few and newest few backups of
any one file. Normally `dired-kept-versions' (*not*
`kept-new-versions'; that applies only when saving) specifies the
number of newest versions of each file to keep, and `kept-old-versions'
specifies the number of oldest versions to keep.
Period with a positive numeric argument, as in `C-u 3 .', specifies
the number of newest versions to keep, overriding
`dired-kept-versions'. A negative numeric argument overrides
`kept-old-versions', using minus the value of the argument to specify
the number of oldest versions of each file to keep.
The `% d' command flags all files whose names match a specified
regular expression (`dired-flag-files-regexp'). Only the non-directory
part of the file name is used in matching. You can use `^' and `$' to
anchor matches. You can exclude subdirectories by hiding them (Note:Hiding Subdirectories).