Answer by juanfal for Remove all files except some from a directory

Trying it worked with:

First and foremost, activate extglob (on bash, on zsh the syntax is quite similar)

shopt -s extglob

then

rm -r !(Applications|"Virtualbox VMs"|Downloads|Documents|Desktop|Public)

but names with spaces are (as always) tough. Tried also with Virtualbox\ VMs instead the quotes. It deletes always that directory (Virtualbox VMs).