remove files according to date format

[SPMK]

Can anyone tell me, how to remove files from a directry according to the date format?..like in a directry hundreds of log files is being created and I want to delete the files been created two days befor.

Its a 11.23ia64 version

[Dennis Handly]

Do the logfiles include the date in their name?
If not, you can only remove files that were modified 2 (or more if you want) days ago.

This would be like:
find path-to-dir -mtime 2 -exec rm -f {} +

If you only want to remove files with a specific name:
find path-to-dir/file-name-pattern ...

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi,

try something like:

DIR=/data/export
find $DIR -xdev -type f -mtime +2 -name '*.dmp' -exec rm -f {}+


Also have a look to thread below:
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1218419


hope this helps!
kind regards
yogeeraj

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi:

It is important to understand that Unix does not maintain a "creation" timestamp for files.

Rather, there is a last modified ('mtime') that represents the last time a file's contents was updated. Thus, after the first instantiation of a file, its 'mtime' can be said to represent a creation moment, but any modifcation thereafter causes the knowledge of the first to be lost.

The 'stat()' structure contains an 'mtime' for the last modification; an 'atime' for the last access timestamp; and a 'ctime' for the last change in a file's inode (permissions, ownership, name).

Use 'find' to locate and remove your files. Use its '-xdev' argument to prevent 'find' from crossing mountpoints. This is very important if you are examining the '/' directory. Use '-type f' to limit your selection to FILES and not directories and files. The '-mtime +2' selects files that have been modified 2-DAYS ago or earlier. With 'find' the concept of a "day" is a 24-hour unit and granularily is to the second (60*60*24=86400).

# find /path -xdev -type f -mtime +2 -exec rm {} \+

If you want to limit the above selection to only files whose name ends in ".log", simply amend this to:

# find /path -xdev -type f -mtime +2 -name "*.log" -exec rm {} \+

Notice that we double quote the wildcard "*.log" so that 'find' evaluates the argument and your shell doesn't expand "*.log" and build a 'find' command with multiple '-name' arguments --- an error.

With the above pointers in mind, please read the 'find' manpages for more information.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Rasheed Tamton]

If you want to have files minus two days back specifically to overcome the -mtime, -atime -ctime issues, you can combine touch with -newer option of the find command.

> touch -t 04131200 file1 (Apr 13 1200)
> touch -t 04151200 file2 (Apr 15 1200)
> touch -t 04151200 file3 ( " )

> ll file*
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 0 Apr 13 12:00 file1
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 0 Apr 15 12:00 file2
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 0 Apr 15 12:00 file3

> find . -type f -name "*il*" -newer file1

./file2
./file3

> find . -type f -name "*ile*" -newer file1 -exec ls -l {} \;
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 0 Apr 15 12:00 ./file2
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 0 Apr 15 12:00 ./file3

use *log instead of "*ile*" and rm instead of ls for removing. User -xdev for the FS.

Here I use rm -i (inter active for test)
> find . -type f -name "*ile*" -newer file1 -exec rm -i {} \>
./file2: ? (y/n) n
./file3: ? (y/n) n

[SPMK]

thanks all for reply

I got that,

find . ! -newer /ref_file -exec rm {} \;

[Dennis Handly]

If you want performance you should use "+":
find . ! -newer ref_file -exec rm {} +

[SPMK]

v can use find . ! -newer ref_file -exec rm {} +

thanks.