Deleting files older than x number of years or days
I huge uploads folder and tried to delete the old files eg. files older than 3 years or files added before a certain date but for some reason it ends up deleting both new and old files.
Here are the commands I tried so far
Command 1
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" -exec rm -v {} ;
This command removes everything ignoring the with ! -newermt or just - newermt
Command 2
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -mtime +1095 -type f -print -exec rm -i {} ;
It returned no result
Command 3
find /home/user/uploads -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" | xargs rm
This returned an error "xargs: unmatched single quote by default quotes are special to xargs unless you use the -o option "
I can't figure out what exactly is wrong with the commands.. I'm running on a CentOS system.
shell unix xargs
asked Nov 11 at 10:44
iOflower
248
add a comment |
I huge uploads folder and tried to delete the old files eg. files older than 3 years or files added before a certain date but for some reason it ends up deleting both new and old files.
Here are the commands I tried so far
Command 1
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" -exec rm -v {} ;
This command removes everything ignoring the with ! -newermt or just - newermt
Command 2
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -mtime +1095 -type f -print -exec rm -i {} ;
It returned no result
Command 3
find /home/user/uploads -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" | xargs rm
This returned an error "xargs: unmatched single quote by default quotes are special to xargs unless you use the -o option "
I can't figure out what exactly is wrong with the commands.. I'm running on a CentOS system.
shell unix xargs
asked Nov 11 at 10:44
iOflower
248
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00"is correct for matching only files older than2018-10-14 00:00:00". You say "This command removes everything" -- were there files newer than that deleted?
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 10:58
yes... it removed new files that were created after this date, instead of files created before this date
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:05
OK, hold on. Let me come up with a test for you.
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:08
Make adatetstdir, e.g.md datetst && cd datetstcreate a file for every day of Oct. 2018, e.gfor i in {1..31}; do touch -d "2018-10-$i" file_$i; done, Now let'sfind . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" | sortand see only files corresponding to days1-16are selected as not newer than"2018-10-16"which is right. Does you test given different results?
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:18
Yes, i got the results I wanted after testing your code.. it sorted out the files created before 2018-10-16. ! -newermt sorted files before and just -newermt sorted the files modified after.. I'm going to try this with my command and post the results..
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:35
add a comment |
I huge uploads folder and tried to delete the old files eg. files older than 3 years or files added before a certain date but for some reason it ends up deleting both new and old files.
Here are the commands I tried so far
Command 1
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" -exec rm -v {} ;
This command removes everything ignoring the with ! -newermt or just - newermt
Command 2
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -mtime +1095 -type f -print -exec rm -i {} ;
It returned no result
Command 3
find /home/user/uploads -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" | xargs rm
This returned an error "xargs: unmatched single quote by default quotes are special to xargs unless you use the -o option "
I can't figure out what exactly is wrong with the commands.. I'm running on a CentOS system.
shell unix xargs
asked Nov 11 at 10:44
iOflower
248
I huge uploads folder and tried to delete the old files eg. files older than 3 years or files added before a certain date but for some reason it ends up deleting both new and old files.
Here are the commands I tried so far
Command 1
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" -exec rm -v {} ;
This command removes everything ignoring the with ! -newermt or just - newermt
Command 2
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -mtime +1095 -type f -print -exec rm -i {} ;
It returned no result
Command 3
find /home/user/uploads -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" | xargs rm
This returned an error "xargs: unmatched single quote by default quotes are special to xargs unless you use the -o option "
I can't figure out what exactly is wrong with the commands.. I'm running on a CentOS system.
shell unix xargs
shell unix xargs
asked Nov 11 at 10:44
iOflower
248
asked Nov 11 at 10:44
iOflower
248
asked Nov 11 at 10:44
iOflower
248
asked Nov 11 at 10:44
iOflower
248
asked Nov 11 at 10:44
iOflower
248
248
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00"is correct for matching only files older than2018-10-14 00:00:00". You say "This command removes everything" -- were there files newer than that deleted?
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 10:58
yes... it removed new files that were created after this date, instead of files created before this date
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:05
OK, hold on. Let me come up with a test for you.
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:08
Make adatetstdir, e.g.md datetst && cd datetstcreate a file for every day of Oct. 2018, e.gfor i in {1..31}; do touch -d "2018-10-$i" file_$i; done, Now let'sfind . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" | sortand see only files corresponding to days1-16are selected as not newer than"2018-10-16"which is right. Does you test given different results?
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:18
Yes, i got the results I wanted after testing your code.. it sorted out the files created before 2018-10-16. ! -newermt sorted files before and just -newermt sorted the files modified after.. I'm going to try this with my command and post the results..
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:35
add a comment |
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00"is correct for matching only files older than2018-10-14 00:00:00". You say "This command removes everything" -- were there files newer than that deleted?
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 10:58
yes... it removed new files that were created after this date, instead of files created before this date
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:05
OK, hold on. Let me come up with a test for you.
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:08
Make adatetstdir, e.g.md datetst && cd datetstcreate a file for every day of Oct. 2018, e.gfor i in {1..31}; do touch -d "2018-10-$i" file_$i; done, Now let'sfind . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" | sortand see only files corresponding to days1-16are selected as not newer than"2018-10-16"which is right. Does you test given different results?
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:18
Yes, i got the results I wanted after testing your code.. it sorted out the files created before 2018-10-16. ! -newermt sorted files before and just -newermt sorted the files modified after.. I'm going to try this with my command and post the results..
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:35
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" is correct for matching only files older than 2018-10-14 00:00:00". You say "This command removes everything" -- were there files newer than that deleted?– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 10:58
find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00" is correct for matching only files older than 2018-10-14 00:00:00". You say "This command removes everything" -- were there files newer than that deleted?– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 10:58
yes... it removed new files that were created after this date, instead of files created before this date
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:05
yes... it removed new files that were created after this date, instead of files created before this date
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:05
OK, hold on. Let me come up with a test for you.
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:08
OK, hold on. Let me come up with a test for you.
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:08
Make a
datetst dir, e.g. md datetst && cd datetst create a file for every day of Oct. 2018, e.g for i in {1..31}; do touch -d "2018-10-$i" file_$i; done, Now let's find . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" | sort and see only files corresponding to days 1-16 are selected as not newer than "2018-10-16" which is right. Does you test given different results?– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:18
Make a
datetst dir, e.g. md datetst && cd datetst create a file for every day of Oct. 2018, e.g for i in {1..31}; do touch -d "2018-10-$i" file_$i; done, Now let's find . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" | sort and see only files corresponding to days 1-16 are selected as not newer than "2018-10-16" which is right. Does you test given different results?– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:18
Yes, i got the results I wanted after testing your code.. it sorted out the files created before 2018-10-16. ! -newermt sorted files before and just -newermt sorted the files modified after.. I'm going to try this with my command and post the results..
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:35
Yes, i got the results I wanted after testing your code.. it sorted out the files created before 2018-10-16. ! -newermt sorted files before and just -newermt sorted the files modified after.. I'm going to try this with my command and post the results..
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:35
add a comment |
1 Answer
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So after playing with the commands for a while this is the command that worked.
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" -exec rm -v {} ;
These flags also helped incase you're come across this situation.
-maxdepth 1
means only files within that folder
-newermt
used for files modified on that date or after..
! -newermt
used for removing files before the said date.
I also added the -v flag so I would see the output of files been deleted.
Thanks for all the help this saved me a lot of time..
answered Nov 12 at 7:43
iOflower
248
add a comment |
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So after playing with the commands for a while this is the command that worked.
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" -exec rm -v {} ;
These flags also helped incase you're come across this situation.
-maxdepth 1
means only files within that folder
-newermt
used for files modified on that date or after..
! -newermt
used for removing files before the said date.
I also added the -v flag so I would see the output of files been deleted.
Thanks for all the help this saved me a lot of time..
answered Nov 12 at 7:43
iOflower
248
add a comment |
So after playing with the commands for a while this is the command that worked.
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" -exec rm -v {} ;
These flags also helped incase you're come across this situation.
-maxdepth 1
means only files within that folder
-newermt
used for files modified on that date or after..
! -newermt
used for removing files before the said date.
I also added the -v flag so I would see the output of files been deleted.
Thanks for all the help this saved me a lot of time..
answered Nov 12 at 7:43
iOflower
248
add a comment |
So after playing with the commands for a while this is the command that worked.
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" -exec rm -v {} ;
These flags also helped incase you're come across this situation.
-maxdepth 1
means only files within that folder
-newermt
used for files modified on that date or after..
! -newermt
used for removing files before the said date.
I also added the -v flag so I would see the output of files been deleted.
Thanks for all the help this saved me a lot of time..
answered Nov 12 at 7:43
iOflower
248
So after playing with the commands for a while this is the command that worked.
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" -exec rm -v {} ;
These flags also helped incase you're come across this situation.
-maxdepth 1
means only files within that folder
-newermt
used for files modified on that date or after..
! -newermt
used for removing files before the said date.
I also added the -v flag so I would see the output of files been deleted.
Thanks for all the help this saved me a lot of time..
answered Nov 12 at 7:43
iOflower
248
answered Nov 12 at 7:43
iOflower
248
answered Nov 12 at 7:43
iOflower
248
answered Nov 12 at 7:43
iOflower
248
248
add a comment |
add a comment |
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find /home/user/uploads -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-14 00:00:00"is correct for matching only files older than2018-10-14 00:00:00". You say "This command removes everything" -- were there files newer than that deleted?– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 10:58
yes... it removed new files that were created after this date, instead of files created before this date
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:05
OK, hold on. Let me come up with a test for you.
– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:08
Make a
datetstdir, e.g.md datetst && cd datetstcreate a file for every day of Oct. 2018, e.gfor i in {1..31}; do touch -d "2018-10-$i" file_$i; done, Now let'sfind . -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -newermt "2018-10-16" | sortand see only files corresponding to days1-16are selected as not newer than"2018-10-16"which is right. Does you test given different results?– David C. Rankin
Nov 11 at 11:18
Yes, i got the results I wanted after testing your code.. it sorted out the files created before 2018-10-16. ! -newermt sorted files before and just -newermt sorted the files modified after.. I'm going to try this with my command and post the results..
– iOflower
Nov 11 at 11:35