rmstale
rmstale is a tool to remove stale files recursively below a given directory.
Files and folders older than a defined period are removed.
A file is considered stale if it has not been modified in the last N days, where N is the value provided for the --age flag.
This tool will also remove directories that are considered stale (older than the defined period) and are empty.
Some examples for use:
- Set on a schedule to clear old files from your temporary directories.
- Set on a schedule to remove downloaded files from your downloads directory.
Install instructions
Install with Chocolatey
choco install rmstale
Install with Winget
winget install danstis.rmstale
Install on Linux
Visit the releases page to find the latest release version.
# Fetch the latest release tag from GitHub
latest_version=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/danstis/rmstale/releases/latest | grep -Po '"tag_name": "\K.*?(?=")')
# Download the latest version tarball
curl -L -o rmstale.tar.gz "https://github.com/danstis/rmstale/releases/download/$latest_version/rmstale_${latest_version#v}_linux_amd64.tar.gz"
# Extract and install
sudo tar -xzf rmstale.tar.gz -C /usr/bin rmstale
# Cleanup
rm rmstale.tar.gzInstall rmstale manually
- From the GitHub releases page download the latest binary for your operating system.
- Place the downloaded file into your desired location.
Usage instructions
Command line flags
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
| -a, --age | Period in days before an item is considered stale. |
| -d, --dry-run | Runs the process in dry-run mode. No files will be removed, but the tool will log the files that would be deleted. |
| -e, --extension | Filter files for a defined file extension. This flag only applies to files, not directories. |
| -p, --path | Path to a folder to process. |
| -v, --version | Displays the version of rmstale that is currently running. |
| -y, --confirm | Allows for processing without confirmation prompt, useful for scheduling. |
Usage examples
>: rmstale --version
rmstale v1.2.3>: rmstale --age 14 --path c:\temp
WARNING: Will remove files and folders recursively below 'c:\temp' older than 14 days. Continue?: y
-Removing 'C:\Temp\amc2E40.tmp.LOG1'...
-Removing 'C:\Temp\amc2E40.tmp.LOG2'...
-Removing 'C:\Temp\amc306D.tmp.LOG1'...
-Removing 'C:\Temp\amc306D.tmp.LOG2'...
-Removing 'C:\Temp\amc308D.tmp.LOG1'...Any errors encountered during the deletion process (e.g., permission issues) will be logged.
GitHub project
Feedback, Issues, Bugs and Contribution to this tool are welcome.
For Bugs/Issues/Feature requests, please create an issue on the GitHub issues page.
Want to contribute? Great:
- Fork the repo using the Fork button at the top right of the GitHub repo.
- Clone the repo to your development machine, note the dependencies for this project are as follows:
- Go version 1.19 or above
- Create a new branch for the feature that you want to contribute.
- Develop your new feature as you see fit.
- Once you have a working copy of your code, create a pull request against this project.