Deleting log files

Oblivionsmist · 10-22-2017, 10:55 PM

I need to write some code to clean all my log files/ sub directories that are less than 15MB and write a blank file to them instead of deleting them. How would i go about doing this?

This is my current code:

Code:

sudo find /var -name *.log -size -15M

i dont know what command to use after this.

Turbocapitalist · 10-22-2017, 11:10 PM

Usually one would use the package "logrotate"

However, to answer the question as asked, you would append -delete to what you have above to delete them. Note that will zap all files less than 15M even the new ones. See

Code:

man find
man logrotate

Edit: If you want to append a blank line to each one, then append

Code:

-exec sh -c 'echo >> {}' \;

instead.

Oblivionsmist · 10-22-2017, 11:17 PM

Thanks for the reply, so could i pipe it like this:

Code:

sudo find /var -name *.log -size -15M | -exec sh -c 'echo >> {}' \;

Turbocapitalist · 10-22-2017, 11:20 PM

Like this:

Code:

sudo find /var -name *.log -size -15M -exec sh -c 'echo >> {}' \;

It is an option for find. See "man find"

If you want to overwrite the file and leave it empty, then replace the append >>

Code:

sudo find /var -name *.log -size -15M -exec sh -c ':> {}' \;

Again since the search is not including a minimum age, you are also zapping new logs.

Oblivionsmist · 10-22-2017, 11:22 PM

cool thanks a bunch

ondoho · 10-23-2017, 12:19 AM

a request like this usually points to a different problem.

like said earlier, some sort of mechanism to rotate logs should already be in place on your system.
why are you doing it like this, why is it necessary?