UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

how can we delete directories older than 6 months

Code:

find /path/to/blah -type d -mtime +180 -exec rmdir {} \;

assuming they are empty

with small litle change... from frank_rizzo

find /path/to/blah -type d -mtime +180 -print0 | xargs -0 rm -rf

I hope this works better and reliable in situations like a huge no.of directories - where usually commands fail wih 'arguments too long'

-ilan

good point ilan. your method is safer and will take care of the directories that have spaces.

Hi,

Thanks for that. But, i have some files also present in that, which i want to delete . How can i do that.

Hi,
i believe -r option deletes the directory with files.

when i execute this command :-

find /path/to/blah -type d -mtime +180 -print0 | xargs -0 rm -rf

i get the following msgs:-

find: 0652-017 -print0 is not a valid option.
xargs: The -0 flag is not valid.
Usage: xargs [-p][-t] [-e[EndOfFileString]] [-E EndOfFileString]
[-I ReplacementString] [-i[ReplacementString]] [-L Number]
[-l[Number]] [-n Number [-x]] [-s Size] [Command [Argument ...]]

your system probably does not support it. What OS are you using? Use the first method instead. It should work for you unless you run into weird filenames.