TMPWATCH(8)						   System Administrator's Manual					       TMPWATCH(8)

NAME

       tmpwatch - removes files which haven't been accessed for a period of time

SYNOPSIS

       tmpwatch [-u|-m|-c] [-faqstv] [--verbose] [--force] [--all] [--test]
		      [--fuser ] [--atime|--mtime|--ctime] [--quiet] <hours> <dirs>

DESCRIPTION

       tmpwatch  recursively  removes  files  which haven't been accessed for a given number of hours. Normally, it's used to clean up directories
       which are used for temporary holding space such as /tmp.

       When changing directories, tmpwatch is very sensitive to possible race conditions and will exit with an error if one is detected.  It  does
       not follow symbolic links in the directories it's cleaning (even if a symbolic link is given as its argument), will not switch filesystems,
	and only removes empty directories and regular files.

       By  default,  tmpwatch dates files by their atime (access time), not their mtime (modification time). If files aren't being removed when ls
       -l implies they should be, use ls -u to examine their atime to see if that explains the problem.

       If the --atime, --ctime or --mtime options are used in combination, the decision about deleting a file will be based on the maximum of this
       times.

       The hours parameter defines the threshold for removing files. If the file has not been accessed for hours hours, the file is removed.  Fol-
       lowing this, one or more directories may be given for tmpwatch to clean up.

OPTIONS

       -u, --atime
	      Make the decision about deleting a file based on the file's atime (access time). This is the default.

       -m, --mtime
	      Make the decision about deleting a file based on the file's mtime (modification time) instead of the atime.

       -c, --ctime
	      Make the decision about deleting a file based on the file's ctime (inode change time) instead of the atime;  for	directories,  make
	      the decision based on the mtime.

       -a, --all
	      Remove all file types, not just regular files and directories.

       -d, --nodirs
	      Do not attempt to remove directories, even if they are empty.

       -f, --force
	      Remove files even if root doesn't have write access (akin to rm -f).

       -t, --test
	      Doesn't remove files, but goes through the motions of removing them. This implies -v.

       -s, --fuser
	      Attempt to use the "fuser" command to see if a file is already open before removing it.  Not enabled by default.	 Does help in some
	      circumstances, but not all.  Dependent on fuser being installed in /sbin.

       -v, --verbose
	      Print a verbose display. Two levels of verboseness are available -- use this option twice to get the most verbose output.

SEE ALSO

       cron(1), ls(1), rm(1), fuser(1)

WARNINGS

       GNU-style long options are not supported on HP-UX.

AUTHORS

       Erik Troan <ewt@redhat.com>
       Preston Brown <pbrown@redhat.com>
       Nalin Dahyabhai <nalin@redhat.com>

4th Berkeley Distribution					  Wed Nov 28 2001						       TMPWATCH(8)