How to Delete Files on a Particular Date with Unix

Best Answered by

Dany· Answered on Feb 22, 2023

You can use two command lines to precisely find and delete files at a particular time. First, you can search for files whose last modification time is older than X minutes, days, months, or years using bash in Unix. Here is the Command Prompt for searching the specific file(s).

find / -name "your-directory" -mtime +XX -exec rm -f {}; Specify path, filename and time to delete the file.

The description of the Command line is as follows:

• find - the command that finds the files.
• ./your-directory - the absolute or relative path to the location of the search. I believe that using absolute routes will prevent future issues.
• -mtime +XX - replace XX with the days you want to return. 
• -exec rm -f {}; - this deletes files that match the particular settings.

It is safe to execute the preceding command since it will only produce a list of files that fit the search criteria; they will not be destroyed or modified; for example, a possible output might be: ./your-directory/file1.xd

As previously stated, my script's final phase was removing the files that matched the search more simpler. Fortunately, the most challenging step was completed. To erase the result of your search, add the -delete parameter to the search command:

find ./your-directory -daystart -maxdepth 1 -mmin +10 -type f -delete

When you delete a file or directory in Linux or Unix, it does not disappear forever. There are a few tiers of folders where deleted files can go before being completely removed from your system. So you can recover deleted files in Linux or Unix effortlessly. 

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can recover deleted files or folders on Linux. By downloading, you can access free recovery from various data loss situations and preview before recovery. Simply put, you can connect the Unix disk to a Windows PC and retrieve files. Download EaseUS to use its capabilities and recover your lost files for free.