Noob trying to first time navigate File Manager to delete ._ files

ClarkNova

So I'm 100% totally new to the world of Retropie and have no coding skills what-so-ever. With that said; can someone - ANYONE - take pitting on me and explain how to use/access the top menu of the File Manager. I basically want to learn how to navigate through this window/shell so I can delete all the ._ files that came with my great rom migration from my MacBook. I tried searching using terms like, 'File Manager 101' and 'File Manager for Dummies', with no such luck. Any help, even a link toward some simple coding walkthroughs, would be greatly appreciated. -Jayson

edmaul69

@ClarkNova i dont have a mac so i cant help you, but this is the biggest thing i hated with macs. A lot of wasted space from a bunch of extra annoying files. I hate just having to delete them when i download stuff.

pjft

@ClarkNova welcome!

Sure, happy to try and help. I assume you're keeping your ROMS in a USB drive and want to clear those files, or did you transfer them over to your pi's SD card?

I usually do it in the Mac's command line terminal, let me look up the recursive script I have to run dot_clean on every folder. I'll have my laptop with me within 2 or so hours, but confirm that you are referring to the USB drive, and that you can plug it in your Mac.

Thanks!

ClarkNova

@pjft I clicked on the Finder icon in my doc, clicked on Networks and found my Retropie through there. After that I navigated through Retropie's rom folders and started dumping them in. I restarted my Retropie and found that there were matching ._ files for every rom I added. I looked online for help, found different suggestions of combating this issue, though there was no sure fire way to eliminate these hitchhiking files (many conflicting opinions). After that I decided it might be a good idea to start familiarizing myself with Retropie's File Manager. It looked simple enough though with a lack of basic coding I was stumped fast (I mean I don't even know how to access the menu bar on the top left with my keyboard). So here I am, posting my plea for HELP!

pjft

@ClarkNova Got it.

Unfortunately, I don't quite know much about Retropie's File Manager, but maybe we can try the following if you have a keyboard connected to your Pi.

Exit EmulationStation by pressing F4
Type the following commands:

cd RetroPie
cd roms
Now, navigate to each of the system folders where you have that problem, and remove the files. In this case, I'm starting with arcade, but other names are nes, snes, gb, etc.

cd arcade
rm ._.
cd ..

and then move on to another system.

Be very careful with the rm command, as it will delete all files that match the pattern. In this case, we're matching "._<anything>.<anything>" (note the "dots" and the "underscore" character that make the pattern for those files from your Mac).

Then, if you restart EmulationStation it should all be good to go. You may want to reboot your RetroPie:

sudo reboot now

A good practice is, in your Mac, before copying over the files, to remove them in your Mac.

Using the Mac terminal (in Applications > Utilities), navigate to your rom folders and run

dot_clean

Let me know if you'd have trouble doing that.

Best of luck.

Macaque

If you're not comfortable running scripts you can also just search in Finder for "._". Right-click and delete the files.

BuZz

@pjft said in Noob trying to first time navigate File Manager to delete ._ files:

cd arcade
rm ._*.*
cd ..

To do all folders -

rm -rf ~/RetroPie/roms/*/._*

pjft

@BuZz said in Noob trying to first time navigate File Manager to delete ._ files:

rm -rf ~/RetroPie/roms//._

Thanks for the Unix clarification.

A question: would ._* also include files with extensions? (i.e. how strict is Unix with matching the asterisk character - do we need ._*.* ?)

Cheers!

BuZz

@pjft It would. It will delete anything in any folder in roms starting with ._

I assume you meant ._* and not .* - you need to use inline code markup on this forum or info will be lost as styling.

pjft

@BuZz Got it - yes I did. I'll edit that. I struggled to use back-quotes with my current keyboard layout until recently. :)

I believe DOS did only match empty file extensions if we omitted the last (.*), hence the question.

Happy Easter weekend everyone!

BuZz

@pjft Yeah - dos treats extensions differently. Unix doesn't really have "extensions" in the same way - it has filenames, which can contain various characters. you can have lots of dots in a filename if you want for example.

ClarkNova

@BuZz So do I type in:

rm -rf ~/RetroPie/roms//._

While in the File Manager or after pressing F4 to exit out of Emulation Station?

BTW "THANK YOU" EVERYONE - I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!!

pjft

@ClarkNova I don't know how the file manager works, but yes - if you exit EmulationStation to the command line via F4 and run that, that will work.

Do make sure to use the right command, though :) Copy exactly the one from Buzz, with asterisks and dots.

ClarkNova

@pjft I'm holding F4 while it boots and I'm still taken to the Emulation Station.

pjft

@ClarkNova sorry it wasn't clear. You press f4 when in ES. Or alternative just navigate to the menu and select Exit ES.

Use Buzz's command exactly as it's spelled.

ClarkNova

Okay, it looks like I have it running pretty clean now. Thank you all so much. Next I'll try to figure out how to add Famicom CDS, Super Famicom, Virtual Boy and maybe Game & Watch directories/roms to my build. Time to start hunting through the threads [slaps and rubs hands together in eager excitement] :)