Do you mean 4 million (4M) files? The performance on a directory with that many files will be terrible, to say the least. I'm surpised you did not run out of inodes....
There is nothing wrong with your command. It probably takes 60 seconds to locate one file name in the directory and delete it.
Try this, and check back on Monday.... assume your directory name is ad.
You need to get rid of the directory as well. Then recreate it.
What version of AIX? It matters. Let's assume it's not a very new one.
Seeding the command in post #1 with ls was unlikely to work because ls always tries to sort the file list and this is likely to fail long before the xargs fails (because the xargs gives the Shell a line which is way too long in older AIX).
Assuming no subdirectories and an older AIX.
If the rm -r keels over with lack of memory or breaks the kernel, the penultimate last resort is:
This will not be quick, but it will get there in the end.
Then do Jim's bit to delete and re-create the directory (taking good note of the original permissions).
Ps. I'm a bit amazed that you managed to count the number of files in this directory. I think that you are a contender for the largest directory file ever on a unix system which still works. 37Mb for a directory file is impressive.
Last edited by methyl; 06-15-2012 at 07:18 PM..
Reason: grammar, typos, addenda
Sorry, I was editing my post on the fly (my bad) - depends when you read it!
I think that we have all hit this problem at some time or another. The ls on a huge directory hanging or crashing is a classic symptom.
I forgot to ask whether this directory was a free-standing filesystem - in which case there were more ruthless methods!
Hi,
can anyone tell me in detail ?
what the following do in detail ?
I am trying to get a largest number in a list
Thanks
Tao
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