how to remove all files from a directory which are 24 hr old

siris · 04-08-2010, 11:15 AM

hi

I was preparing a script which will remove all my files from directory which are 24 hour old.

I tried some thing like this

find . \( -name 'log.*' -mtime +1 \) -exec rm {};
but it is throughing error like : missing argument to exec.

please help me in this regard.

ncsuapex · 04-08-2010, 11:26 AM

You're trying to delete files OVER 24 hours old?

find /path -name "log.*" -mtime -1 -type f -exec ls -lh {} \;

Run that first to see the files incase the command is not what you're looking for.

then run:

find /path -name "log.*" -mtime -1 -type f -exec rm -f {} \;

Change the / to your path.

siris · 04-09-2010, 12:45 AM

Thanks,

but the command find /path -name "log.*" -mtime -1 -type f -exec ls -lh {} \;
is throwing some error saing that: missing arguments to -exec.

I tried one more thing like find /sisback -name "log.1*" -type f -mtime -1 |xargs rm
but it is showing that-- /sisback no such file or directory. though I have a directory in the same name in my present working directory.

Need your help please...

crts · 04-09-2010, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siris

Thanks,

but the command find /path -name "log.*" -mtime -1 -type f -exec ls -lh {} \;
is throwing some error saing that: missing arguments to -exec.

I tried one more thing like find /sisback -name "log.1*" -type f -mtime -1 |xargs rm
but it is showing that-- /sisback no such file or directory. though I have a directory in the same name in my present working directory.

Need your help please...

Try this

Code:

find /path -name "log.*" -mtime -1 -type f -exec ls -lh '{}' \;

Notice the single quotes around '{}'.

jschiwal · 04-09-2010, 03:45 AM

Usually the error you gave means you didn't end the -exec command with `\;'.

You can also use the -delete command.
find /dir -mtime +1 -delete

The command with -exec ls could have been:
find /dir -mtime +1 -ls

bakdong · 04-09-2010, 03:54 AM

It might also be worth looking at tmpwatch.

DESCRIPTION
tmpwatch recursively removes files which haven't been
accessed for a given number of hours. Normally, it's used
to clean up directories which are used for temporary hold-
ing space such as /tmp.

bakdong · 04-09-2010, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siris

I tried one more thing like find /sisback -name "log.1*" -type f -mtime -1 |xargs rm
but it is showing that-- /sisback no such file or directory. though I have a directory in the same name in my present working directory.

You're getting an error because you're looking for /sisback, i.e. the sisback directory off the root directory, not the current directory. If you really want the current directory you need './sisback'

Code:

find /path -name "log.*" -mtime -1 -type f -exec ls -lh {} \;

May need to be:

Code:

find /path -name "log.*" -mtime -1 -type f -exec ls -lh '{}' ';'

Depending on how your shell expansion is working.

ncsuapex · 04-09-2010, 08:16 AM

What OS and what shell are you using? The examples I posted work for me on a CentOS OS using bash shell.

siris · 04-10-2010, 01:23 AM

Thanks to all...

I am using Fedora-9 and bash shell...