Removing files older than 7 days
I write below command to delete all files that are older than 7 days, but it doesn't work:
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name'*.gz' -exec rm {} ;
How can I remove these files?
command-line delete find rm
add a comment |
I write below command to delete all files that are older than 7 days, but it doesn't work:
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name'*.gz' -exec rm {} ;
How can I remove these files?
command-line delete find rm
3
There should be a space betweenname
and'*.gz'
.
– Jos
Feb 24 '15 at 9:25
add a comment |
I write below command to delete all files that are older than 7 days, but it doesn't work:
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name'*.gz' -exec rm {} ;
How can I remove these files?
command-line delete find rm
I write below command to delete all files that are older than 7 days, but it doesn't work:
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name'*.gz' -exec rm {} ;
How can I remove these files?
command-line delete find rm
command-line delete find rm
edited Sep 9 '17 at 3:40
αғsнιη
24.3k2295156
24.3k2295156
asked Feb 24 '15 at 9:22
Malihe PakyariMalihe Pakyari
286134
286134
3
There should be a space betweenname
and'*.gz'
.
– Jos
Feb 24 '15 at 9:25
add a comment |
3
There should be a space betweenname
and'*.gz'
.
– Jos
Feb 24 '15 at 9:25
3
3
There should be a space between
name
and '*.gz'
.– Jos
Feb 24 '15 at 9:25
There should be a space between
name
and '*.gz'
.– Jos
Feb 24 '15 at 9:25
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
As @Jos pointed out you missed a space between name
and '*.gz'
; also for speeding up the command use -type f
option to running the command on files only.
So the fixed command would be:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' ;
Explanation:
find
: the unix command for finding files/directories/links and etc.
/path/to/
: the directory to start your search in.
-type f
: only find files.
-name '*.gz'
: list files that ends with.gz
.
-mtime +7
: only consider the ones with modification time older than 7 days.
-execdir ... ;
: for each such result found, do the following command in...
.
rm -- '{}'
: remove the file; the{}
part is where the find result gets substituted into from the previous part.--
means end of command parameters avoid prompting error for those files starting with hyphen.
Alternatively, use:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -print0 | xargs -r0 rm --
From man find:
-print0
True; print the full file name on the standard output, followed by a null character
(instead of the newline character that -print uses). This allows file names that contain
newlines or other types of white space to be correctly interpreted by programs that process
the find output. This option corresponds to the -0 option of xargs.
Which is a bit more efficient, because it amounts to:
rm file1 file2 file3 ...
as opposed to:
rm file1; rm file2; rm file3; ...
as in the -exec
method.
An alternative and also faster command is using exec's +
terminator instead of ;
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' +
This command will run rm
only once at the end instead of each time a file is found and this command is almost as fast as using -delete
option as following in modern find
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -delete
1
Why wouldn't I go straight with-delete
at the end? Why mess with the+
or;
?
– rain01
Jan 5 at 2:46
@rain01 plz read unix.stackexchange.com/q/167823/72456
– αғsнιη
Jan 14 at 17:49
add a comment |
Be careful removing files with find. Run the command with -ls to check what you are removing
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -ls
. Then pull up the command from history and append -exec rm {} ;
Limit the damage a find command can do. If you want to remove files from just one directory, -maxdepth 1
prevents find from walking through subdirectories or from searching the full system if you typo /media/bkfolder /
.
Other limits I add are more specific name arguments like -name 'wncw*.gz'
, adding a newer-than time -mtime -31
, and quoting the directories searched. These are particularly important if you are automating cleanups.
find "/media/bkfolder/" -maxdepth 1 -type f -mtime +7 -mtime -31 -name 'wncw*.gz' -ls -exec rm {} ;
New contributor
add a comment |
protected by Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy 25 mins ago
Thank you for your interest in this question.
Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).
Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
As @Jos pointed out you missed a space between name
and '*.gz'
; also for speeding up the command use -type f
option to running the command on files only.
So the fixed command would be:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' ;
Explanation:
find
: the unix command for finding files/directories/links and etc.
/path/to/
: the directory to start your search in.
-type f
: only find files.
-name '*.gz'
: list files that ends with.gz
.
-mtime +7
: only consider the ones with modification time older than 7 days.
-execdir ... ;
: for each such result found, do the following command in...
.
rm -- '{}'
: remove the file; the{}
part is where the find result gets substituted into from the previous part.--
means end of command parameters avoid prompting error for those files starting with hyphen.
Alternatively, use:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -print0 | xargs -r0 rm --
From man find:
-print0
True; print the full file name on the standard output, followed by a null character
(instead of the newline character that -print uses). This allows file names that contain
newlines or other types of white space to be correctly interpreted by programs that process
the find output. This option corresponds to the -0 option of xargs.
Which is a bit more efficient, because it amounts to:
rm file1 file2 file3 ...
as opposed to:
rm file1; rm file2; rm file3; ...
as in the -exec
method.
An alternative and also faster command is using exec's +
terminator instead of ;
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' +
This command will run rm
only once at the end instead of each time a file is found and this command is almost as fast as using -delete
option as following in modern find
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -delete
1
Why wouldn't I go straight with-delete
at the end? Why mess with the+
or;
?
– rain01
Jan 5 at 2:46
@rain01 plz read unix.stackexchange.com/q/167823/72456
– αғsнιη
Jan 14 at 17:49
add a comment |
As @Jos pointed out you missed a space between name
and '*.gz'
; also for speeding up the command use -type f
option to running the command on files only.
So the fixed command would be:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' ;
Explanation:
find
: the unix command for finding files/directories/links and etc.
/path/to/
: the directory to start your search in.
-type f
: only find files.
-name '*.gz'
: list files that ends with.gz
.
-mtime +7
: only consider the ones with modification time older than 7 days.
-execdir ... ;
: for each such result found, do the following command in...
.
rm -- '{}'
: remove the file; the{}
part is where the find result gets substituted into from the previous part.--
means end of command parameters avoid prompting error for those files starting with hyphen.
Alternatively, use:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -print0 | xargs -r0 rm --
From man find:
-print0
True; print the full file name on the standard output, followed by a null character
(instead of the newline character that -print uses). This allows file names that contain
newlines or other types of white space to be correctly interpreted by programs that process
the find output. This option corresponds to the -0 option of xargs.
Which is a bit more efficient, because it amounts to:
rm file1 file2 file3 ...
as opposed to:
rm file1; rm file2; rm file3; ...
as in the -exec
method.
An alternative and also faster command is using exec's +
terminator instead of ;
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' +
This command will run rm
only once at the end instead of each time a file is found and this command is almost as fast as using -delete
option as following in modern find
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -delete
1
Why wouldn't I go straight with-delete
at the end? Why mess with the+
or;
?
– rain01
Jan 5 at 2:46
@rain01 plz read unix.stackexchange.com/q/167823/72456
– αғsнιη
Jan 14 at 17:49
add a comment |
As @Jos pointed out you missed a space between name
and '*.gz'
; also for speeding up the command use -type f
option to running the command on files only.
So the fixed command would be:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' ;
Explanation:
find
: the unix command for finding files/directories/links and etc.
/path/to/
: the directory to start your search in.
-type f
: only find files.
-name '*.gz'
: list files that ends with.gz
.
-mtime +7
: only consider the ones with modification time older than 7 days.
-execdir ... ;
: for each such result found, do the following command in...
.
rm -- '{}'
: remove the file; the{}
part is where the find result gets substituted into from the previous part.--
means end of command parameters avoid prompting error for those files starting with hyphen.
Alternatively, use:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -print0 | xargs -r0 rm --
From man find:
-print0
True; print the full file name on the standard output, followed by a null character
(instead of the newline character that -print uses). This allows file names that contain
newlines or other types of white space to be correctly interpreted by programs that process
the find output. This option corresponds to the -0 option of xargs.
Which is a bit more efficient, because it amounts to:
rm file1 file2 file3 ...
as opposed to:
rm file1; rm file2; rm file3; ...
as in the -exec
method.
An alternative and also faster command is using exec's +
terminator instead of ;
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' +
This command will run rm
only once at the end instead of each time a file is found and this command is almost as fast as using -delete
option as following in modern find
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -delete
As @Jos pointed out you missed a space between name
and '*.gz'
; also for speeding up the command use -type f
option to running the command on files only.
So the fixed command would be:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' ;
Explanation:
find
: the unix command for finding files/directories/links and etc.
/path/to/
: the directory to start your search in.
-type f
: only find files.
-name '*.gz'
: list files that ends with.gz
.
-mtime +7
: only consider the ones with modification time older than 7 days.
-execdir ... ;
: for each such result found, do the following command in...
.
rm -- '{}'
: remove the file; the{}
part is where the find result gets substituted into from the previous part.--
means end of command parameters avoid prompting error for those files starting with hyphen.
Alternatively, use:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -print0 | xargs -r0 rm --
From man find:
-print0
True; print the full file name on the standard output, followed by a null character
(instead of the newline character that -print uses). This allows file names that contain
newlines or other types of white space to be correctly interpreted by programs that process
the find output. This option corresponds to the -0 option of xargs.
Which is a bit more efficient, because it amounts to:
rm file1 file2 file3 ...
as opposed to:
rm file1; rm file2; rm file3; ...
as in the -exec
method.
An alternative and also faster command is using exec's +
terminator instead of ;
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -execdir rm -- '{}' +
This command will run rm
only once at the end instead of each time a file is found and this command is almost as fast as using -delete
option as following in modern find
:
find /path/to/ -type f -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -delete
edited Sep 9 '17 at 3:43
answered Feb 24 '15 at 10:14
αғsнιηαғsнιη
24.3k2295156
24.3k2295156
1
Why wouldn't I go straight with-delete
at the end? Why mess with the+
or;
?
– rain01
Jan 5 at 2:46
@rain01 plz read unix.stackexchange.com/q/167823/72456
– αғsнιη
Jan 14 at 17:49
add a comment |
1
Why wouldn't I go straight with-delete
at the end? Why mess with the+
or;
?
– rain01
Jan 5 at 2:46
@rain01 plz read unix.stackexchange.com/q/167823/72456
– αғsнιη
Jan 14 at 17:49
1
1
Why wouldn't I go straight with
-delete
at the end? Why mess with the +
or ;
?– rain01
Jan 5 at 2:46
Why wouldn't I go straight with
-delete
at the end? Why mess with the +
or ;
?– rain01
Jan 5 at 2:46
@rain01 plz read unix.stackexchange.com/q/167823/72456
– αғsнιη
Jan 14 at 17:49
@rain01 plz read unix.stackexchange.com/q/167823/72456
– αғsнιη
Jan 14 at 17:49
add a comment |
Be careful removing files with find. Run the command with -ls to check what you are removing
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -ls
. Then pull up the command from history and append -exec rm {} ;
Limit the damage a find command can do. If you want to remove files from just one directory, -maxdepth 1
prevents find from walking through subdirectories or from searching the full system if you typo /media/bkfolder /
.
Other limits I add are more specific name arguments like -name 'wncw*.gz'
, adding a newer-than time -mtime -31
, and quoting the directories searched. These are particularly important if you are automating cleanups.
find "/media/bkfolder/" -maxdepth 1 -type f -mtime +7 -mtime -31 -name 'wncw*.gz' -ls -exec rm {} ;
New contributor
add a comment |
Be careful removing files with find. Run the command with -ls to check what you are removing
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -ls
. Then pull up the command from history and append -exec rm {} ;
Limit the damage a find command can do. If you want to remove files from just one directory, -maxdepth 1
prevents find from walking through subdirectories or from searching the full system if you typo /media/bkfolder /
.
Other limits I add are more specific name arguments like -name 'wncw*.gz'
, adding a newer-than time -mtime -31
, and quoting the directories searched. These are particularly important if you are automating cleanups.
find "/media/bkfolder/" -maxdepth 1 -type f -mtime +7 -mtime -31 -name 'wncw*.gz' -ls -exec rm {} ;
New contributor
add a comment |
Be careful removing files with find. Run the command with -ls to check what you are removing
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -ls
. Then pull up the command from history and append -exec rm {} ;
Limit the damage a find command can do. If you want to remove files from just one directory, -maxdepth 1
prevents find from walking through subdirectories or from searching the full system if you typo /media/bkfolder /
.
Other limits I add are more specific name arguments like -name 'wncw*.gz'
, adding a newer-than time -mtime -31
, and quoting the directories searched. These are particularly important if you are automating cleanups.
find "/media/bkfolder/" -maxdepth 1 -type f -mtime +7 -mtime -31 -name 'wncw*.gz' -ls -exec rm {} ;
New contributor
Be careful removing files with find. Run the command with -ls to check what you are removing
find /media/bkfolder/ -mtime +7 -name '*.gz' -ls
. Then pull up the command from history and append -exec rm {} ;
Limit the damage a find command can do. If you want to remove files from just one directory, -maxdepth 1
prevents find from walking through subdirectories or from searching the full system if you typo /media/bkfolder /
.
Other limits I add are more specific name arguments like -name 'wncw*.gz'
, adding a newer-than time -mtime -31
, and quoting the directories searched. These are particularly important if you are automating cleanups.
find "/media/bkfolder/" -maxdepth 1 -type f -mtime +7 -mtime -31 -name 'wncw*.gz' -ls -exec rm {} ;
New contributor
New contributor
answered 27 mins ago
zekezeke
111
111
New contributor
New contributor
add a comment |
add a comment |
protected by Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy 25 mins ago
Thank you for your interest in this question.
Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).
Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?
3
There should be a space between
name
and'*.gz'
.– Jos
Feb 24 '15 at 9:25