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We have numerous directories that each contain 2 files, one of which is a hidden file. We want to remove all those directories and their contents that contain ONLY files that have a modification date older than 180 days. So, for example, if we have the following:

Dir1   Jan 1 2000
     File1A   Jan 1 2000
     File1B   Jan 1 2000
Dir2   Jan 1 2000
     File2A   Jan 1 2014
     File2B   Jan 1 2014
Dir3   Jan 1 2000
     File3A   Jan 1 2014
     File3B   Jan 1 2000

I need a Linux command that will remove only Dir1 and all of its contents including the hidden file. Dir2 and Dir 3 would remain untouched because each contain at least one file that is newer than 180 days ago.

I've played around with listing those directories that contain a newer file but I couldn't find an "inverse" command that would then remove all the "other" directories.

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2 Answers 2

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With GNU tools:

for d in Dir*; do
  find "$d" -mindepth 1 -mtime -180 -print -quit | grep -q . ||
    echo rm -rf "$d"
done

Remove the echo when satisfied. Remove the -q to find out why a directory is not being removed.

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  • Stephane, -mtime -180 does not indicate 180 days and older. It is rather from now to 180 days if I'm not mistaken. Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 20:37
  • Thanks Stephane - but your answer also doesn't address the most critical component which is that I only want to remove directories that contain ONLY old (180+ days) files Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 21:34
  • @val0x00ff It removes the directories that do not contain files younger than 180 days. Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 21:58
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    @pk7, if the directories contain only 180+ days (or if the directories are empty), then find will output nothing, then grep will return false, then echo rm will be executed. Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 22:00
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One of the approaches is:

while read -r line; do rm -rf "${line%%/*}"; done < <(find . -type f -mtime +180 -printf "%P\n")

Pipe the into read and execute a command accordingly.

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    Thanks val0x00ff- but your answer doesn't address the most critical component which is that I only want to remove directories that contain ONLY old (180+ days) files Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 21:39

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