Cron to delete files older than X days

[Facundo M. de la Cruz]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

On 04/12/2012 05:37 AM, raj sourabh wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am facing a problem while running a cron to delete files older that X
> days in a particular folder. Initially I had configured the cron as below;
> 
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$ crontab -l*
> *10 3 * * * /home/oracle/backup.sh*
> *@daily find /home/oracle/daily_backup/* -mtime +2 -exec rm {} \;*
> 
> But this deletes everything from the backup folder and I dont see any files
> in it.
> But when I run "* find /home/oracle/daily_backup/* -mtime +2 -exec rm {}
> \;" *manually "nothing happens". I mean it doesn't delete anything.
> 
> What could be the issue here?? Even I tried below but no success;
> 
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$ ls -altr*
> *-rw-r-----  1 oracle dba  123801600 Apr 12 12:16 120412_full_dbexp.dmp*
> *-rw-r--r--  1 oracle dba     116275 Apr 12 12:16 120412_expdp_full.log*
> *drwx------ 12 oracle dba       4096 Apr 12 12:21 ..*
> *drwxrwxrwx  2 root   root      4096 Apr 12 12:21 .*
> *-rw-r--r--  1 oracle dba         20 Oct 10  2012 test.txt*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$ find /home/oracle/daily_backup/ -mtime +30
> -delete*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$ ls*
> *120412_expdp_full.log  120412_full_dbexp.dmp  test.txt*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$ ls -altr*
> *total 121156*
> *-rw-r-----  1 oracle dba  123801600 Apr 12 12:16 120412_full_dbexp.dmp*
> *-rw-r--r--  1 oracle dba     116275 Apr 12 12:16 120412_expdp_full.log*
> *drwx------ 12 oracle dba       4096 Apr 12 12:21 ..*
> *drwxrwxrwx  2 root   root      4096 Apr 12 12:21 .*
> *-rw-r--r--  1 oracle dba         20 Oct 10  2012 test.txt*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$ find /home/oracle/daily_backup -type f
> -mtime +2 -exec rm {} \;*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$ ls -altr*
> *total 121156*
> *-rw-r-----  1 oracle dba  123801600 Apr 12 12:16 120412_full_dbexp.dmp*
> *-rw-r--r--  1 oracle dba     116275 Apr 12 12:16 120412_expdp_full.log*
> *drwx------ 12 oracle dba       4096 Apr 12 12:21 ..*
> *drwxrwxrwx  2 root   root      4096 Apr 12 12:21 .*
> *-rw-r--r--  1 oracle dba         20 Oct 10  2012 test.txt*
> *[oracle at TESTDBS daily_backup]$*
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *Regards,*
> *Raj*


You can try with the -ctime option.

The syntax is ok, but if any process update the file content the mtime
is updated too. The -ctime options seek for files which the metadata is
not updapted for X amount of days.

Regards.

- -- 
Facundo M. de la Cruz (tty0)
IT Consultant
RHCSA/RHCE

GPG fingerprint: DF2F 514A 5167 00F5 C753 BF3B D797 C8E1 5726 0789

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to
build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to
produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." -
Rich Cook
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux)
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=/yYF
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----