Linux/Ubuntu: Delete files older than 30 days via SSH

In this artic­le, I explain how you can dele­te files in Linux/Ubuntu that are older than 30 days. This is espe­ci­al­ly useful if you crea­te auto­ma­ted back­ups and want to dele­te them after 30 days.

The 30 days is the peri­od when the file was last modi­fied.

Delete files older than 30 days #

You can use the find com­mand to find all files older than X days. You can also dele­te the found files direct­ly with the com­mand.

First, you should list all files that are older than 30 days. To do this, we look in the /opt/backup direc­to­ry for all files that were last modi­fied +30 days ago.

find /opt/backup -type f -mtime +30

Note: You can of cour­se adapt the direc­to­ry to your needs. Important: In case of an incor­rect call, the dele­ti­on of files can lead to a fail­ure of the sys­tem.

Now check the list that is dis­play­ed. Once you are satis­fied with it, you can dele­te the found files with the fol­lo­wing com­mand.

find /opt/backup -type f -mtime +30 -delete