Deleting Mail

tied2 · 09-10-2002, 10:57 AM

I want to delete all my mail from var/spool/mail/root I'm using vi to veiw it .....

Would I just cd /var/spool/mail
then rm -r root will that delete the directory also? I just want to empty the file or at least some of it.

Thanks.

acid_kewpie · 09-10-2002, 11:41 AM

no, it is a file, not a directory, the -r switch if you read the manpage) is for recursive deletion, which doesn't make sense on a single file. it'll work, but it's quite pointless. but just deleting that file will get rid of it yes. i don't think you need to have the file to recieve mail into it, but to be sure you should "touch" it again after you have deleted it

tied2 · 09-10-2002, 12:04 PM

Thanks, I removed it then checked it ...it wasn't there so I "touch" it and now it says that it's there.........so that means after I clean my mail from there I won't need to "touch" it every time right.

acid_kewpie · 09-10-2002, 12:22 PM

well why aren't you just using a real mail client?? jsut delete it the normal way

tied2 · 09-10-2002, 02:32 PM

I have my reasons.

tied2 · 09-10-2002, 02:35 PM

thanks for your help.

MasterC · 09-10-2002, 03:51 PM

Well if you are cleaning your mail that way each time, then touching the file shouldn't be too bad, you might already be in the directory so:
touch filename
would do it. Not bad after doing
rm filename
Not bad at all.

You could write a very simple script to do this for, and then just run it when you are ready to rm the file, and touch the new one. Here's a REALLY bad example, as I know little to nothing about scripting:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
#This is to delete my mail
rm -r /var/spool/mail/root &&
touch /var/spool/mail/root
#Now I am ready for more mail

Save the file, and then:
chmod 755 /path/to/file/deletemail.sh
Now to run it:
./deletemail.sh
You might not even need the && in there.

Cool

acid_kewpie · 09-10-2002, 03:53 PM

MasterC, i'd suggest reading up a bit on bash...

MasterC · 09-10-2002, 04:17 PM

he he he, yeah, it's just a bad example, but gives an idea of something to do. Thanks for the suggestion though Acid