Bash Script – Delete Files Older Than a Specific File

bashcentosshell-script

I need to delete from a folder all files older than a specific file.
Running bash on CentOS 7.

I have a solution for this, but I think there should be a more elegant way do it:

reference_file=/my/reference/file

get_modify_time()
{
    stat $1 | grep -Po "Modify: \K[0-9- :]*"
}

pit=$(get_modify_time $reference_file)
for f in /folder/0000* ; do [[ "$pit" > "$(get_modify_time $f)" ]] && rm $f ; done

Best Answer

I haven't tried it, but find should be able to handle the whole operation just fine:

$ find dir/ -type f ! -newer reference -delete

... or...

$ find dir/ -type f ! -newer reference ! -name reference -delete

Basically:

  • ! -newer reference matches files which have been modified less recently than reference.
  • -delete deletes them.
  • ! -name reference excludes reference, in case it is also located under dir/ and you want to keep it.

This should delete all files older than reference, and located under dir/.

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