Finding and Removing old or inactive Files

In sequence to find inactive files, a user should first become the super user

Files which have not been accessed for a specified number of days can be found and listed in a file as given belows.

# find directory           -type f [-atime + nnn][-mtime + nnn]-print > filename

In the syantax,

Directory     -   It refers to the directory which is to be checked .It below this also will be checked.

-atime +nnn  -   Finds files which have not been accessed inside the specified number of days.

-mtime +nnn -    Finds files which have not been modified inside the specified number of days you specify.

Filename         -   It refers to the file holding the list of inactive files. The inactive files can now be deleted as given below

# rm 'cat filename'

Here

filename          - It refers to the file created through this command that holds the list of inactive files.

Example       - Removing and Finding Old or Inactive Files

The given example locates regular files in /var/adm and its directories which have not been accessed in the last 60 days and saves the list of inactive files in /var/tmp/deadfiles. These files are then removed within the rm command.

# find /var/adm -type f -atime +60 -print > /var/tmp/deadfiles &

# more /var/tmp/deadfiles

/var/adm/wtmp

/var/adm/wtmpx

/var/adm/sulog

# rm 'cat /var/tmp/deadfiles'