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Delete X amount of similar files in a directory

 
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# 1  
Old 01-27-2012
Delete X amount of similar files in a directory
Need a Unix command to save the last 20 versions of a file in a specific directory and delete everything else. Date is irrelevant. Anyone aware of such an animal?

In my test, I came up with:

Code:
ls -t1 /tmp/testfile* | tail -n +20 | xargs rm

I don’t quite trust the author though!
Last edited by methyl; 01-27-2012 at 07:26 PM.. Reason: please use code tags
# 2  
Old 01-27-2012
When posting, please mention what Operating System and version you have and what Shell you are using.

Definitely consider counting the files first to make sure that there are at least 20 before culling them.
If there is any possibility that there are no files, redirect STDERR:
Code:
filecount=`ls -1tr /tmp/testfile* 2>/dev/null | wc -l`

Last edited by methyl; 01-27-2012 at 07:40 PM.. Reason: bad post. would have deleted the good files
 
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