Script for deleting files based on date

MaverickApollo · 02-03-2004, 07:31 PM

Does any one know of any ready written scripts that I can base a script of my own, which will be responsable for deleting files based on date. If that file is over 1 month old, it gets deleted. This will be run from a cron tab.

I have never even attempted to write a script before, and have no idea where to start, so any pointers would be appreciated!!!

wapcaplet · 02-03-2004, 07:45 PM

The Linux Cookbook has some tips on things like this; check out this chapter for specifics.

TBC Cosmo · 02-03-2004, 07:52 PM

how 'bout:

assume current dir has the old files

find . -mtime +30 -exec rm {} \;

and cron that to run each night. Should delete for each file not modified for a month

Code:

futur6/usr/users/wayne/junk> ls -lart
total 20
-rw-r--r--   1 wayne    dba          393 Nov 10 08:59 hung-ftp.txt
-rw-r--r--   1 wayne    dba          705 Nov 17 10:25 vmstat.txt
-rw-r--r--   1 wayne    dba         1867 Nov 17 10:57 vmstat-p.txt
drwxr-xr-x   2 wayne    dba         8192 Nov 20 09:32 .
drwx------   7 wayne    dba         8192 Feb  3 08:00 ..
futur6:/usr/users/wayne/junk> find . -mtime +30 -exec rm {} \;
rm: cannot remove '.' or '..'
futur6/usr/users/wayne/junk> ls
futur6/usr/users/wayne/junk>

homey · 02-03-2004, 07:54 PM

Here's mine. If you want to change the age before deleting, change the part -mtime +90 to -mtime +30

#!/bin/bash
filename=`date '+%m%d%y'`
tar -cvzf /mnt/backup/${filename}.tar.gz /home
#Delete old files with the following command
find /mnt/backup -type f -name '*.gz' -mtime +90 -exec rm {} \;