Recursive clean script, removes every given -f option filetype from current base directory and in subdirectories

rclean.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import fnmatch, subprocess
import sys, os
import argparse


def generate_filename_pattern(pattern):
    try:
        if pattern[0] == '.':
            return '*' + pattern
        else:
            return '*.' + pattern
    except IndexError:
        print "Error: incorrect pattern"


def gen_argument_parser():
    """
    Parse Arguments: Add a -f option in order to manage which
    Filtype to match in order to cleanup selected directory
    """
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Process some file types")
    parser.add_argument('-f', action="store",
                        dest='file_type', help="Defines which filetype to match",
                        default=False)
    result = parser.parse_args()

    return result


rootPath = '.'
emacs_patterns = ['*~', '#*#']
patterns = []
parser_result = gen_argument_parser()

if parser_result.file_type:
    patterns.append(generate_filename_pattern(parser_result.file_type))
else:
    patterns = emacs_patterns

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(rootPath):
    for pattern in patterns:
        for filename in fnmatch.filter(files, pattern):
            print os.path.join(root, filename)
            subprocess.Popen(['rm', os.path.join(root, filename)])