1TMPWATCH(8)              System Administrator's Manual             TMPWATCH(8)
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NAME

6       tmpwatch  -  removes  files which haven't been accessed for a period of
7       time
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SYNOPSIS

10       tmpwatch [-u|-m|-c] [-MUadfqstvx] [--verbose] [--force] [--all]
11                      [--nodirs] [--nosymlinks] [--test] [--fuser] [--quiet]
12                      [--atime|--mtime|--ctime] [--dirmtime] [--exclude path]
13                      [--exclude-user user] time dirs
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DESCRIPTION

17       tmpwatch recursively removes files which haven't been  accessed  for  a
18       given time.  Normally, it's used to clean up directories which are used
19       for temporary holding space such as /tmp.
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21       When changing directories, tmpwatch is very sensitive to possible  race
22       conditions  and will exit with an error if one is detected. It does not
23       follow symbolic links in the directories it's cleaning (even if a  sym‐
24       bolic  link  is  given  as  its argument), will not switch filesystems,
25       skips lost+found directories owned by the root user, and  only  removes
26       empty directories, regular files, and symbolic links.
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28       By  default,  tmpwatch  dates  files  by their atime (access time), not
29       their mtime (modification time). If files aren't being removed when  ls
30       -l  implies  they should be, use ls -u to examine their atime to see if
31       that explains the problem.
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33       If the --atime, --ctime or --mtime options are used in combination, the
34       decision  about  deleting  a file will be based on the maximum of these
35       times.  The --dirmtime option implies ignoring  atime  of  directories,
36       even if the --atime option is used.
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38       The  time  parameter  defines the threshold for removing files.  If the
39       file has not been accessed for time, the file  is  removed.   The  time
40       argument  is a number with an optional single-character suffix specify‐
41       ing the units: m for minutes, h for hours, d for days.  If no suffix is
42       specified, time is in hours.
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44       Following  this,  one  or more directories may be given for tmpwatch to
45       clean up.
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OPTIONS

50       -u, --atime
51              Make the decision about deleting a  file  based  on  the  file's
52              atime (access time). This is the default.
53
54              Note that the periodic updatedb file system scans keep the atime
55              of directories recent.
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58       -m, --mtime
59              Make the decision about deleting a  file  based  on  the  file's
60              mtime (modification time) instead of the atime.
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63       -c, --ctime
64              Make  the  decision  about  deleting  a file based on the file's
65              ctime (inode change time) instead of the atime; for directories,
66              make the decision based on the mtime.
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69       -M, --dirmtime
70              Make the decision about deleting a directory based on the direc‐
71              tory's mtime (modification time)  instead  of  the  atime;  com‐
72              pletely ignore atime for directories.
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75       -a, --all
76              Remove  all  file  types, not just regular files, symbolic links
77              and directories.
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80       -d, --nodirs
81              Do not attempt to remove directories, even if they are empty.
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84       -f, --force
85              Remove files even if root doesn't have write access (akin to  rm
86              -f).
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89       -l, --nosymlinks
90              Do not attempt to remove symbolic links.
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93       -q, --quiet
94              Report only fatal errors.
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97       -s, --fuser
98              Attempt  to  use the "fuser" command to see if a file is already
99              open before removing it.  Not enabled by default.   Does help in
100              some  circumstances,  but  not  all.   Dependent  on fuser being
101              installed in /sbin.  Not supported on HP-UX or Solaris.
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104       -t, --test
105              Don't remove files, but go through the motions of removing them.
106              This implies -v.
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109       -U, --exclude-user=user
110              Don't  remove  files owned by user, which can be an user name or
111              numeric user ID.
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114       -v, --verbose
115              Print a verbose display. Two levels of verboseness are available
116              -- use this option twice to get the most verbose output.
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119       -x, --exclude=path
120              Skip path; if path is a directory, all files contained in it are
121              skipped too.  If path does not exist, it  must  be  an  absolute
122              path that contains no symbolic links.
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125       -X, --exclude-pattern=pattern
126              Skip paths matching pattern; if a directory matches pattern, all
127              files contained in it are skipped too.  pattern  must  match  an
128              absolute path that contains no symbolic links.
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SEE ALSO

132       cron(1), ls(1), rm(1), fuser(1)
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WARNINGS

136       GNU-style long options are not supported on HP-UX.
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AUTHORS

140       Erik Troan <ewt@redhat.com>
141       Preston Brown <pbrown@redhat.com>
142       Nalin Dahyabhai <nalin@redhat.com>
143       Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>
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1474th Berkeley Distribution         2009-10-15                       TMPWATCH(8)
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