---

Samples

Note that you have to launch using “source“

• Delete the oldest files in the current folder (./) as long as it takes up more than 96MB:
  source ./clean_custom.sh --path ./ -l 9600000
• Delete older files from temporary folder (/tmp/) as long as it takes more than 2GB:
  source ./clean_custom.sh --path /tmp/ -l 2000000000

---

Script source code

#!/usr/bin/env bash                                                              
PATH_TO_CLEAN=                                                                   
NUMBER_FILES_TO_DELETE_EACH_LOOP=1                                               
SIZE_LIMIT=2000000000                                                            
                                                                                 
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   
# usage:                                                                         
usage()                                                                          
{                                                                                
    echo "Clean directory: while size of a dir > limit, oldest files first."
    echo "Usage: ${filename} [-p|--path path] [-s|--max-size size] | [-h]"
    echo "    -p|--path: path to clean"            
    echo "    -l|--limit: max size for the folder (must be > 0)"
    echo "    -h|--help this help"                 
}                                                                                
                                                                                 
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   
# handling arguments:                                                            
args=("$@")                                                            
filename=$(basename -- "$0" | sed 's/\(.*\)\..*/\1/')        
while [ "$1" != "" ]; do                                     
    case $1 in                                               
        -p | --path ) shift              
                      # stop if path doesn't exist:
                      if [ ! -d "$1" ]; then
                          echo "Path not found: '$1'"
                          usage
                          return 1
                      fi
                      PATH_TO_CLEAN=$1
                      ;;
        -l | --limit ) shift             
                       SIZE_LIMIT=$(echo $1 | bc)
                       if [ $SIZE_LIMIT -le 0 ]
                       then
                           usage
                           return 1
                       fi
                       ;;
        -h | --help ) usage              
                      return
                      ;;
        * ) usage                        
            return 1 
    esac                                                     
    shift                                                    
done                                                                             
[ -z "$PATH_TO_CLEAN" ] && echo "Path empty" && usage && return 1
echo "Cleanin dir: '$PATH_TO_CLEAN', size limit=$SIZE_LIMIT" 
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------   
# handling arguments:                                                            
while [ 1 ]                                                                      
do                                                                               
    s=$(du -sb $PATH_TO_CLEAN | cut -f1 | bc)                
    if [ $s -gt $SIZE_LIMIT ]                                
    then                                                     
        find $PATH_TO_CLEAN -type f -printf '%T+ %p\n' | \
            sort -nr | \
            tail -$NUMBER_FILES_TO_DELETE_EACH_LOOP | \
            cut -d' ' -f 2- | \
            xargs -I {} rm -f {}
    else                                                     
        break                            
    fi                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
done                                                                             
return 0