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Clean up leftover {tmdb-...} folders in a media library

Media managers (Radarr, Sonarr, Jellyfin) name folders like Movie (2020) {tmdb-12345}. When an item is removed or re-imported, a folder can be left behind with just artwork or an .nfo file. This how-to finds those folders and removes them, after showing you the list first.

Find candidates (dry run)

A candidate is a folder with { or } in its name, no subfolders, exactly two files, and no video file:

#!/bin/bash
root=${1:?usage: tmdb-clean <library> [--delete]}
find "$root" -mindepth 1 -type d \( -name '*{*' -o -name '*}*' \) -print0 |
while IFS= read -r -d '' d; do
  subs=$(find "$d" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d | wc -l)
  files=$(find "$d" -maxdepth 1 -type f | wc -l)
  vids=$(find "$d" -maxdepth 1 -type f \( -iname '*.mkv' -o -iname '*.mp4' -o -iname '*.avi' -o -iname '*.m4v' \) | wc -l)
  if (( subs == 0 && files == 2 && vids == 0 )); then
    if [[ ${2:-} == --delete ]]; then rm -rf -- "$d"; echo "deleted: $d"
    else echo "would delete: $d"; fi
  fi
done

Use it

./tmdb-clean.sh /mnt/media/movies            # review the list
./tmdb-clean.sh /mnt/media/movies --delete   # then delete
  • The video check is important. Without it, a folder with one movie and one subtitle file also matches "exactly two files".
  • -print0 with read -d '' handles any file name safely.
  • Rescan the library in your media server afterwards.
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