How to delete all files older than 3 days when "Argument list too long"?

Question

I've got a log file directory that has 82000 files and directories in it (about half and half).

I need to delete all the file and directories which are older than 3 days.

In a directory that has 37000 files in it, I was able to do this with:

find * -mtime +3 -exec rm {} \;

But with 82000 files/directories, I get the error:

/usr/bin/find: Argument list too long

How can I get around this error so that I can delete all files/directories that are older than 3 days?

I believe running `find * -mtime +3 |xargs rm` would solve that problem. — Mats Petersson, Feb 06 '13 at 14:14
I think the only problem is `find *`. `find .` is better. The shell globing with expand the `*` to a huge list of files and directories. — artless noise, Feb 06 '13 at 14:36

score 123 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 14 '14 at 19:40

123

To delete all files and directories within the current directory:

find . -mtime +3 | xargs rm -Rf

Or alternatively, more in line with the OP's original command:

find . -mtime +3 -exec rm -Rf -- {} \;

edited Nov 14 '14 at 19:40

Chris W.

answered Feb 06 '13 at 14:14

hd1

27

-1 The problem is the star in "find *", you solved it by using "find ." instead. Xargs is misleading here. – Aleksandr Levchuk Oct 14 '13 at 11:19
7

@AleksandrLevchuk it solves OPs problem, and therefore does not deserve a downvote – hd1 Oct 17 '13 at 23:48
11

Question: "find * -mtime +3 -exec rm {} \;" gives Argument list too long. Answer: Use "find . -mtime +3 -exec rm {} \;" – Aleksandr Levchuk Nov 09 '13 at 03:18
1

Does this also delete folders? – Mr. P Apr 18 '14 at 10:32
@AleksandrLevchuk's second solution does not delete folders, my original solution will. – hd1 Apr 20 '14 at 15:06
If you're comfy using Perl do to the heavy lifting for you read this http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=28914 – Klemen Tusar Jun 04 '14 at 09:28
2

You might want to add `--` after rm, like `find . -mtime +3 -exec rm -- {} \;` – domen Jul 04 '14 at 17:26
1

`xargs` doesn't handle spaces in paths unless you supply `-print0` to `find` and `-0` to `xargs`. – Geremia Mar 21 '15 at 02:13
`find . -mtime +3 -delete` – lapo Jun 19 '15 at 08:48
8

Nobody said what the `--` is for. – Asclepius Jul 08 '15 at 02:35
@A-B-B It's to prevent rm from interpreting a filename as an option argument. (if you have files that start with a dash). – João Portela Mar 14 '16 at 11:59
1

To remove a file whose name starts with a '-', for example '-foo', use one of these commands: rm -- -foo – Adam Delarosa Feb 12 '17 at 09:35

score 61 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 02 '14 at 18:29

61

Can also use:

find . -mindepth 1 -mtime +3 -delete

To not delete target directory

answered Jun 02 '14 at 18:29

vangheem

4

Best answer, much cleaner than calling rm (and probably safer). Works for subdirectories as well. – basic6 May 25 '15 at 16:34

score 17 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 03 '14 at 06:28

Another solution for the original question, esp. useful if you want to remove only SOME of the older files in a folder, would be smth like this:

find . -name "*.sess" -mtime +100

and so on.. Quotes block shell wildcards, thus allowing you to "find" millions of files :)

3 Answers3