Question

I have a cron job that deletes files based on their age using the command:

find /path/to/file/ -type f -mmin +120|xargs -I file rm 'file'

However I’d like to integrate the command into a python script which involves the task as well as other things that also run on cron.

I understand I could just plonk the command as it is into the Python script and it would probably run find, however I’m interested to know there a more Python-centric way to accomplish this and what other benefits might that bring?

Answer 1

My method would be:

import os
import time

def checkfile(filename):
    filestats = os.stat(filename) # Gets infromation on file.
    if time.time() - filestats.st_mtime > 120: # Compares if file modification date is more than 120 less than the current time.
        os.remove(filename) # Removes file if it needs to be removed.

path = '/path/to/folder'

dirList = os.listdir(path) # Lists specified directory.
for filename in dirList:
    checkfile(os.path.join(path, filename)) # Runs checkfile function.

Edit: I tested it, it didn’t work, so i fixed the code and i can confirm it works.