Delete log files 1

[tempest92]

hi

i need to housekeep log files over a certain age, the script currently running reads a properties file that has entries such as -

/dir1/dir2/dir3/*txt 5
/dir1/dir2/dir3/*.txt 5

currently the script uses find i.e.
find /dir1/dir2/dir3/*txt -type f -mtime +5 -exec rm -e {} ;

the find is failing due to the arg list being too long. i cannot change the properties file as there is hundreds of entries in each and hundreds of servers !! can someone suggest a way (i guess using xargs) to get around this.

thanks in advance (i am using AIX)

 

[mrn]

find / -name core -exec 'rm -f {} ;'

is the same as

find / -name core | xargs rm -f

so

find /dir1/dir2/dir3/*txt -type f -mtime +5 | xargs rm -f

should do the trick

test with

find /dir1/dir2/dir3/*txt -type f -mtime +5 | xargs ls -l



Mike

"Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters."

 

[tempest92]

#find /dir1/dir2/dir3/*txt -type f -mtime +5 | xargs ls -l
ksh: /usr/bin/find: 0403-027 The parameter list is too long

 

[mrn]

Try the -n flag with xargs

see man xargs

Mike

"Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters."

 

[feherke]

Hi

find /dir1/dir2/dir3/ [red]-name \[/red]*txt -type f -mtime +5 | xargs rm -f

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[tempest92]

thanks feherke. that works great !!

can you also tell me how i split

i=/dir1/dir2/dir3/*txt into -

dir=/dir1/dir2/dir3
file=*.txt

 

[p5wizard]

file=$(basename $i)
dir=$(dirname $i)

But be very careful when using variables containing wildcards in shell scripts!


HTH,

p5wizard

 

[Annihilannic]

One handy workaround which I use for a similar script is to set -f to turn off filename generation.

Annihilannic.

 

[tempest92]

just found set -f !

thanks everyone, this is a great help

 

[hokky]

Hi Anni,

Can you tell me what you mean by 'turn off filename generation' please ?

by example may be ?

thanks

 

[p5wizard]

By default (f flag off) the shell generates filenames with wildcard characters (* ? [] ...), so that is why it is sometimes awkward to include thoes special chars in the value of a variable. By setting the f flag on in a shell, you get rid of the special meaning of these wildcard characters and they behave just like any other character.

HTH,

p5wizard

 

[Annihilannic]

By example:

[tt]$ touch one two three
$ echo *
one three two
$ set -f
$ echo *
*
$ set +f
$ echo *
one three two
$[/tt]

Annihilannic.

 

[tempest92]

why does -
find /dir1/dir2/dir3/ -name \*txt -type f -mtime +5 | xargs rm -f work from the command line

but only -
find /dir1/dir2/dir3/ -name *txt -type f -mtime +5 | xargs rm -f if you are running from a script ?

 

[Annihilannic]

The one with \*.txt should work fine in both situations...?

Annihilannic.

 

[tempest92]

thanks againg.... i am not having a good day !!

can you tell me how to get the \ into the second find to ensure it behaves the same whe variables are used as when it is hardcoded (obviously i won't have both finds, just the one with the variables)

#!/usr/bin/ksh

while read fname retain
do
set -f
file=$(basename $fname)
dir=$(dirname $fname)
set +f

find /dir1/dir2 -name \*log -type f -mtime +28 -exec ls -l {} \;
find $dir -name $file -type f -mtime -$retain -exec ls -l {} \;

done < /home/input.txt

 

[Annihilannic]

Just do a set -f at the beginning of the script, and leave it in that mode for the whole time. find will do its own matching of *.log, so you don't need the shell to do it.

Annihilannic.

 

[tempest92]

thanks annihilannic - this is perfect. just out of interest (??), how would you put the \ in without using set -f ?

thanks again !!

 

[Annihilannic]

You might have to escape it when you define the variable, i.e. \\*log.

Alternatively you could use "$file" which would prevent the shell doing filename generation on it.

[tt]$ touch a.log
$ touch b.log
$ t="*.log"
$ echo $t
a.log b.log
$ echo "$t"
*.log
$[/tt]

Annihilannic.