deleting files

hi all,

I need to delete all the files from a archieve directory whose filename
starts with 2008, 2009. The folder consists of 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

the filename example is as below:
20081111_12_asc_ac_st.zip similarly there are files for 2009.

There are around 3000-4000 files with the names starting with 2008 and 2009

Please let me know how to dlete all these files.

go to that directory and execute:

find . -name '200[89]*' -exec rm {} \;

or

or from anywhere:

find <path> -name '200[89]*' -exec rm {} \;

if u just wanna validate, what files would be removed:

find <path> -name '200[89]*' -print

You could also just do
rm 2008*
rm 2009*
etc....

Which is the same as :
rm 200[89]*
rm 201[01]*

Does this work for you?