Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi guys:
I am trying to delete multiple files in a folder with different names. Below is the script that I was trying, but it doesn't work

**************************
#!/bin/ksh
DATE=`date '+20%y%m%d'`
DEL_DIR=<dir where files have to be deleted>
let DATE2=$(($DATE - 2))
let DATE1=$(($DATE -1))
DELFILE_1=abc1.txt.$DATE1*
DELFILE_2=abc1.txt.$DATE2*
DELTAR=cdr.$DATE2.tar

find $DEL_DIR -name $DELFILE_2 -exec rm -f '{}' \;
find $DEL_DIR -name $DELTAR -exec rm -f '{}' \;

**************************
The files I am looking to delete are:
abc.<todays date minus 2>.tar
ex: abc.20051212.tar

abc1.txt.<date-2><some numbers>
ex: abc1.txt.20051212010101

The error message I get is when I run the find command(s) :
find: paths must precede expression
Usage: find [path...] [expression]

The find statement works when on the command line but not in the script. I also used the following command line which gave the same error message when run from the script but not on the command line

find $DEL_DIR -name $DELFILE_2 |xargs rm -f

I also tried using the If statement as shown below but it doesn't delete the files

if [[ -a $DELFILE_2 ]]; then
rm -f $DELFILE_2
fi

fi [[ - a $DELTAR ]]; then
rm -f $DELTAR
fi

The server is running redhat linux 4
Your help is appreciated.

Thanks,

-Gm

find /tmp -type f -name '*.log' -mtime +2 -exec rm -rf '{}' ';'

this would find all files in slash tmp that end with dot log that are two days old.

A slight correction. This would find files that are more than 3 days old.

Actually the issue is not that find command is not working. I am able to run the find command successfully on the command line but not in the script. When I use it in the script, it gives me the following error message:

find: paths must precede expression
Usage: find [path...] [expression]


Also, the if statement doesnot work if I find multiple files with the following characteristics:
abc1.txt.$DATE2*

How can i successfully look for files "abc.txt.$DATE2* and delete them. On the command line I can use the find command and delete these files but the same command doesn't work in the script.

-George

Getting closer

-mtime 2 means exactly 2 days old (i.e. exactly 60*60*24*2 = 172,800 seconds old)
-mtime -2 means less than 2 days old
-mtime +2 means more than 2 days old

geomonap, do stuff like:
echo DELFILE_2= $DELFILE_2
just before your find statement so you can see what is happening.

And I doubt that you are running the same find command from your command line. Instead, you are probably replacing the variables with what you think they should contain. Your whole problem is probably garbage in your variables.

perderabo:
I ran the that entire part of the script on the command line, and I was successful.

the actual files look like this:

abc1.txt.2005121303000
abc1.txt.2005121303001
abc1.txt.2005121409001
abc1.txt.2005121503081

So I need to filter and delete all the files that have 20051213 in them which signifies that it is 2 days older. I don't want to delete them on the basis of the mtime cause the mtime can change.

-George