Linux – How to delete all files older than 3 days when “Argument list too long”

file-iolinuxresource-cleanup

I've got a log file directory that has 82000 files and directories in it (about half and half).

I need to delete all the file and directories which are older than 3 days.

In a directory that has 37000 files in it, I was able to do this with:

find * -mtime +3 -exec rm {} \;

But with 82000 files/directories, I get the error:

/usr/bin/find: Argument list too long

How can I get around this error so that I can delete all files/directories that are older than 3 days?

Best Answer

To delete all files and directories within the current directory:

find . -mtime +3 | xargs rm -Rf

Or alternatively, more in line with the OP's original command:

find . -mtime +3 -exec rm -Rf -- {} \;

Related Solutions

Windows – Batch file to delete files older than N days

Enjoy:

forfiles -p "C:\what\ever" -s -m *.* -d <number of days> -c "cmd /c del @path"

See forfiles documentation for more details.

For more goodies, refer to An A-Z Index of the Windows XP command line.

If you don't have forfiles installed on your machine, copy it from any Windows Server 2003 to your Windows XP machine at %WinDir%\system32\. This is possible since the EXE is fully compatible between Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.

Later versions of Windows and Windows Server have it installed by default.

For Windows 7 and newer (including Windows 10):

The syntax has changed a little. Therefore the updated command is:

forfiles /p "C:\what\ever" /s /m *.* /D -<number of days> /C "cmd /c del @path"

C# – way to check if a file is in use

Updated NOTE on this solution: Checking with FileAccess.ReadWrite will fail for Read-Only files so the solution has been modified to check with FileAccess.Read.

ORIGINAL: I've used this code for the past several years, and I haven't had any issues with it.

Understand your hesitation about using exceptions, but you can't avoid them all of the time:

protected virtual bool IsFileLocked(FileInfo file)
{
    try
    {
        using(FileStream stream = file.Open(FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None))
        {
            stream.Close();
        }
    }
    catch (IOException)
    {
        //the file is unavailable because it is:
        //still being written to
        //or being processed by another thread
        //or does not exist (has already been processed)
        return true;
    }

    //file is not locked
    return false;
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Batch file to delete files older than N days

C# – way to check if a file is in use

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