Deleting files older than 6 hours

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi All,

I am using the below script to find all the files in a folder which are older than 6 hours and delete all those files, but some how I am not getting the required output.

find $HOME/Log -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 -exec rm *.* {} \

can any one please check and let me know where I am doing wrong.

Thanks,Subhasri

2 
find $HOME/Log -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 -exec rm  {} \;

I think the *.* is unnecessary because the find already listed the names and passed to "exec" and you missed the ";"^_^.

3

It is always good to list the files first, before removing the files directly.

4

In addition to the above educated posts, please consider using "-mmin" (modified) rather than "-amin" (accessed) for the reference timestamp.

5

you also may want to use

 -ok rm {} \;

to be prompted on if you want to delete the files or not. As mentioned earlier, I suggest listing the files first (so run your command without executing 'rm') to make sure you're getting your desired output. Am I the only 'xargs' fan in the building? Everyone seems to like '-exec' but I find that to be SLOWER. Anyways just my stink on it.

6

Thanks for the replies.
I have modified the script instead of removing I am moving the files to archive location.
but when when I am executing I am getting the blow error

find /root/dun/ -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 -exec mv \sune\dan\;
find: missing argument to `-exec'

And find is moving based on the system time.., do we have any command which will move the file to archive location based on file creation date.

Thanks,Subhasri

7

The 'mv' command

find /root/dun/ -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 -exec mv \sune\dan\;
find: missing argument to `-exec'

needs to know where to move the file to. You need to specify a second location and you need {} braces afterwards so it can -exec on each file found.

Also for

mv \sune\dan\ don't you mean /sune/dan/

?

8

Hey I tried with braces.., but no luck

find /root/dun/ -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 -exec mv {} \sune\dan\;

9

What's your error? Is \sune\dan a valid location? You need to escape the ";" at the end.

 find /root/dun -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 -exec mv {} \sune\dan\ \;

Maybe try

 find /root/dun/ -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 |  xargs mv -t \sune\dan\ \;

I'm an xargs fan instead of a -exec switch fan. Just personal preference

10

Hey I have tried with braces but ..it's not moving teh files

find /root/dun/ -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 -exec mv {} \sune\dan\;

the command is working properly but I am not getting the required output

11

Ok, so A: \sune\dan is not a valid directory. /sune/dan would be valid. B: My last post should work fine if you give a valid directory. Run

 find /root/dun/ -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360

and see if that finds your files. Then add on the rest. You need to give more information about what happens.

12

I am doing as below.

I did a pwd on my source directory it is showing as

/root/poc/

and I did a pwd on my target directory it is showing as

/sune/dan/

I executed the following code

find /root/poc/ -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 | xargs mv -t sune\dan\ /;

I am getting the below error

mv: cannot stat `;': No such file or directory

and when I am executing

find /root/poc/ -type f -name "*.*" -amin +2

the command is listing the files as below

/root/poc/prakash.txt

some how mv is not happening.

13

Your solidus and reverse solidus characters are muddled. Also there needs to be a space character before \; at the end of the line:

Try:

find /root/dun/ -type f -name "*.log" -amin +360 -exec mv {} /sune/dan/ \;
14

Lol I showed him that in post #9 but he doesn't acknowledge either one of those answers and keeps flipping em back to \. I have asked a few times about the slashes and get no response.