As in the topic: I would like to remove files in a directory that have been modified in a particular date range. How can I do this ?
1 Answer
The command GNU find
is the way to go. For example, to delete all files in the current directory between 1 and 5 august, you can use the following command
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -newermt 2011-08-01 ! -newermt 2011-08-06 -delete
It is better to execute the command without the -delete
action, first, to see the listing of interested files (a good substitute could be -ls
that produce an ls-like listing).
Removing the -maxdepth 1
specification will traverse all subdirectories, too.
You can also specify hours, for example
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -newermt '2011-08-01 10:01:59' \
! -newermt '2011-08-06 23:01:00' -delete
Be warned to not remove single quotes, that protect spaces between date and time.
The character !
is a negation, it should be read: newer that this date but not newer that this other date.
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Thanks for reply. Can I also use something to choose hours' range ? And what is the '!' used for ?– PatrykAug 14, 2011 at 9:44
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3+1. I didn't know -delete predicate. Maybe it's not needed, but I will add
-type f
. Aug 14, 2011 at 10:49 -
@Michał Šrajer: good tips for
-type f
, I forget that. The-delete
is a GNU extensions, I think.– enzotibAug 14, 2011 at 10:52