shell programming

ANU · 08-07-2006, 11:48 AM

im trying to make a script that runs in crontab and removes the older file if the directory exceeds a specified amount of space

targetdir=/var/big/

in this directory i have some logs that have also names with spaces and this i cant delete with the method i have tried
i have done something like this

Code:

nofiles=`ls | wc -l`
if [ $nofiles -ne 0 ] ; then
listf="`ls -tr | head`"       #to get the older files, and then 
echo "  - deleting $listf"
/bin/rm -fr $listf
else
echo "blabla"
fi

so if i have some files with spaces in there names they wont be removed and the script will hang
how can i make it delete this files to?
at first i was thinking to put the filename between "", but its not working

thanks in advance
BR

spirit receiver · 08-07-2006, 12:34 PM

I think it's better to replace "ls -tr" with "ls -1tr", and then the following should do:

Code:

echo "$listf" | xargs -d $'\n' /bin/rm -fr

exman · 08-07-2006, 12:40 PM

Hi
try to surround the filename with '. like rm -rf 'foo bar'
exman

ANU · 08-08-2006, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spirit receiver

I think it's better to replace "ls -tr" with "ls -1tr", and then the following should do:

Code:

echo "$listf" | xargs -d $'\n' /bin/rm -fr

i dont know the -d option from xargs... and i dont have it ...
xargs: illegal option -- d

you gave me the idee with the xargs, and i came up to this

Code:

echo "$listf" | xargs -I {} -t /bin/rm {}

what do you think .. is there a better way?

spirit receiver · 08-08-2006, 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ANU

i came up to this

Code:

echo $listf | xargs -I {} -t /bin/rm {}

As you see from the -t switch, this causes /bin/rm being executed for each argument separately, but there's nothing wrong with that of course.
An alternative would be to use either the "-Q" or "--quoting-style=shell" switch of ls.