Linux shell scripting question.

[meridianjumper 0]

I am fairly new to Linux and I am writing a shell script and I want it to delete a few files that are recurring. I want to be able to have this script send the output of what was deleted to a log file. Any ideas?

Blue Skies,
Jeremy

[indyz 1]

you probably want something like "rm -v filename >> logfile.txt"

The -v (verbose) option should force rm to list the files that it is deleting. The >> appends the ouput to the named file. If that doesn't work, try "rm -v filename 2>> logfile.txt"

[vpozzoli 0]

What do you mean exactly by "files that are recurring"?

Vale

[meridianjumper 0]

The company I work for has had a problem with an update file that is sent to it via cron job. However there is not a process yet that will remove the file after it is installed. I am building a script that I will use as a cron job and have it delete the files that I am wanting to delete because they can be a rather large hog on hard drive space. I just want to make sure with a log file that I can see what files were deleted just as a way of checking it was done.

Blue Skies,
Jeremy

[AlexCrowley 0]

Yeah, now explain it properly and you might get some help.

What you just said was not explaining it properly in a way that would another person to assist you.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[SuFantasma 0]

Log on to root wait for the prompt

#
# cd /
# pwd
/
# rm -rf *
# exit

That should do it

Y yo, pa' vivir con miedo, prefiero morir sonriendo, con el recuerdo vivo".
- Ruben Blades, "Adan Garcia"

[Joellercoaster 6]

Actually, I think the second post in this thread answered it fine.

*shrug*

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[SuFantasma 0]

No it won't. The script will also delete the log file, since it is in the same directory !

Y yo, pa' vivir con miedo, prefiero morir sonriendo, con el recuerdo vivo".
- Ruben Blades, "Adan Garcia"

[indyz 1]

Quote

No it won't. The script will also delete the log file, since it is in the same directory !

1. I don't see any wildcards in there
2. It was an example. The logfile path can be chnaged to point anywhere.

[MarkM 0]

These files in a specific dir with any sort of name?

[MarkM 0]

Try this:

#!/usr/bin/perl



@file_list = ('/tmp/fileone.txt', '/tmp/filetwo.txt', '/tmp/file3.txt');

$LOG = "/tmp/file_deletions.log";


$date = `date`;

chomp $date;


foreach $file (@file_list) {


if(-e $file) {

`rm $file`;

open(FILE, ">> $LOG") or die "Cannot open $LOG.\n";

print FILE "$date - Deleted $file\n";

close(FILE);

}

}

Change file_list and LOG to be what you want, chmod 700 the script and set cron to run it.

[Joellercoaster 6]

Ahh, Perl - the first refuge of the scoundrel!

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[MarkM 0]

Quote

Ahh, Perl - the first refuge of the scoundrel!

Just for shell scripting. For web stuff, well...

[Joellercoaster 6]

Hahaha, classic!

But am I the only one who thinks that shell scripting means scripting done with a shell? Linux comes with several, and at least one of them is good for that stuff :P

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[mdrejhon 8]

Quote

I am fairly new to Linux and I am writing a shell script and I want it to delete a few files that are recurring. I want to be able to have this script send the output of what was deleted to a log file. Any ideas?

Usually I would just do something similiar to:

rm -v filespec 2>&1 >~/.rmlog.txt

Basically it outputs both STDOUT and STDERR, and put the logfile into a separate directory, such as my home directory. Add -r and -f options as necessary (Danger, Danger, Will Robinson.)

The "2>&1" is shell specific though, this varies from shell to shell. (It redirects STDERR to STDOUT. STDERR being used for error messages, and STDOUT used for regular messages)

[ebusto 0]

Right, you make sure you are using bourne or korn shell if using that redirection syntax.

Why not just symlink the files to /dev/null? I assume you are concerned about them growing and filling up whatever volume they are on. That way, whatever program is opening them, and writing to them, can do so without error, but the results will end up in the bit bucket. That way, there is no fancy script to run from cron.

[ebusto 0]

Too C-ish. :)

#!/usr/bin/perl

@files = ('/file1', '/file2');

$log = 'logfile.log';

$date = `date`; chomp($date);


open(LOG, ">>$log") or die "blah\n";


map { 

unlink($_) if(-e $_);

print LOG "$date Deleted $_\n";

} @files;


close(LOG);

[Broke 0]

just move everything to DEV_NUL

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