clear file?

Red Squirrel · 07-19-2005, 07:52 PM

Is there a command I can use to clear the contents of a file, without having to delete it then "touch" it? I want to do this that way it will preserve the ownership and permissions. I have a script that runs and does bayeslearn on set folders so I want it to delete all the emails every time, since that makes more sense then leaving it.

IamDaniel · 07-19-2005, 07:57 PM

simple:

Code:

~$ > _filename_to_clear.txt

Red Squirrel · 07-19-2005, 08:17 PM

Oh right.. never thought of doing that. thanks.

Red Squirrel · 07-19-2005, 08:47 PM

Hmm that does not seem to keep the attributes. It just corrupted the mbox file or something, can't access it. A blank file is suppost to work usually.

Tinkster · 07-19-2005, 09:00 PM

Not necessarily if it's being written to while you clear it ...

Red Squirrel · 07-19-2005, 09:27 PM

ok my bad, I put echo > and not just >. I just assumed you meant echo >. it seems to work now. Got a nice rotation system going on as well with my cron email account, each week the inbox is moved to archive1, then 2, then 3 etc... using this method and cat.