delete files older than a year

1s440 · 04-18-2021, 10:44 AM

Hi all,

We have monthly backups and yearly backups, and wanted to keep files for the 12 months and delete the older months. Is it similar to delete files older than x days for ex:

Code:

find /your/file -mtime +365 -exec rm {} +

MadeInGermany · 04-18-2021, 02:08 PM

Yes, and you can run it on the directory that holds the files.
Exclude directories (at least the start directory)!

Code:

find /your/dir/ \! -type d -mtime +365 -exec rm {} +

Code:

find /your/dir/ -type f -mtime +365 -exec rm {} +

Sefyir · 04-18-2021, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadeInGermany

Yes, and you can run it on the directory that holds the files.
Exclude directories (at least the start directory)!

Code:

find /your/dir/ \! -type d -mtime +365 -exec rm {} +

Code:

find /your/dir/ -type f -mtime +365 -exec rm {} +

This works too

Code:

-delete

Code:

find /your/dir/ -type f -mtime +365 -delete

I would definitely advise running it without the action to make sure it's affecting the correct files

Code:

find /your/dir/ -type f -mtime +365

Code:

       -delete
              Delete files; true if removal succeeded.  If the removal failed,
              an  error message is issued.  If -delete fails, find's exit sta‐
              tus will be nonzero (when it eventually exits).  Use of  -delete
              automatically turns on the `-depth' option.

              Warnings:  Don't  forget that the find command line is evaluated
              as an expression, so putting -delete first will make find try to
              delete everything below the starting points you specified.  When
              testing a find command line that you later intend  to  use  with
              -delete,  you should explicitly specify -depth in order to avoid
              later surprises.  Because -delete  implies  -depth,  you  cannot
              usefully use -prune and -delete together.

              Together  with the -ignore_readdir_race option, find will ignore
              errors of the -delete action in the case  the  file  has  disap‐
              peared  since  the parent directory was read: it will not output
              an error diagnostic, and the return code of the  -delete  action
              will be true.

rnturn · 04-19-2021, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1s440

Hi all,

We have monthly backups and yearly backups, and wanted to keep files for the 12 months and delete the older months. Is it similar to delete files older than x days for ex:

Code:

find /your/file -mtime +365 -exec rm {} +

logrotate(8) would help keep the older log files under control without you having to manually find/delete them. It's not limited to the files under /var/log and non-root users may institute their own logrotate function via cron. Recommendation: use the "-d/-v" (debug and verbose) switches when testing it to show you what's liable to be deleted without actually deleting the files. Remove the "-d" switch when you're satisfied it's configured to do what you require.

HTH...