Bash script deletes files older than N days using lftp - but does not remove recursive directories and files

Question

I have finally got this script working and it logs on to my remote FTP and removes files in a folder that are older than N days. I cannot however get it to remove recursive directories also. What can be changed or added to make this script remove files in subfolders as well as subfolders that are also older than N days? I have tried adding the -r function at a few places but it did not work. I think it needs to be added to where the script also builds the list of files to be removed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

#!/bin/bash
# Simple script to delete files older than specific number of days from FTP. 
# This script use 'lftp'. And 'date' with '-d' option which is not POSIX compatible.

# FTP credentials and path
FTP_HOST="xxxxxxxxxxxx"
FTP_USER="xxxxxx"
FTP_PASS="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
FTP_PATH="/directadmin"
# Full path to lftp executable
LFTP=`which lftp`

# Enquery days to store from 1-st passed argument or strictly hardcode it, uncomment one to use
STORE_DAYS=${1:? "Usage ${0##*/} X, where X - count of daily archives to store"}
# STORE_DAYS=7

function removeOlderThanDays() {

# Make some temp files to store intermediate data
LIST=`mktemp`
DELLIST=`mktemp`

# Connect to ftp get file list and store it into temp file
${LFTP} << EOF
open ${FTP_USER}:${FTP_PASS}@${FTP_HOST}
cd ${FTP_PATH}
cache flush
cls -q -1 --date --time-style="+%Y%m%d" > ${LIST}
quit
EOF

# Print obtained list, uncomment for debug
#    echo "File list"
#    cat ${LIST}
# Delete list header, uncomment for debug
#    echo "Delete list"

    # Let's find date to compare
    STORE_DATE=$(date -d "now - ${STORE_DAYS} days" '+%Y%m%d')
    while read LINE; do
        if [[ ${STORE_DATE} -ge ${LINE:0:8} && "${LINE}" != *\/ ]]; then
            echo "rm -f \"${LINE:9}\"" >> ${DELLIST}
            # Print files which are subject to deletion, uncomment for debug
            #echo "${LINE:9}"
        fi
    done < ${LIST}
    # More debug strings
    # echo "Delete list complete"
    # Print notify if list is empty and exit.
    if [ ! -f ${DELLIST}  ] || [ -z "$(cat ${DELLIST})" ]; then
        echo "Delete list doesn't exist or empty, nothing to delete. Exiting"
        exit 0;
    fi
# Connect to ftp and delete files by previously formed list
${LFTP} << EOF
open ${FTP_USER}:${FTP_PASS}@${FTP_HOST}
cd ${FTP_PATH}
$(cat ${DELLIST})
quit

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 06 '22 at 15:31

I have addressed this sort of thing a few times.

How to connect to a ftp server via bash script?
Provide commands automatically to ftp in bash script
Bash FTP upload - events to log

Better to use scp and/or ssh when you can, especially if you can set up passwordless access with public keys. Otherwise, I recommend a more robust language like Python or Perl that lets you check the return codes of these steps individually and respond accordingly.

Bash script deletes files older than N days using lftp - but does not remove recursive directories and files

1 Answers1