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Hosting Operations

Read-only, can be slow

Summarize Cache File Ages

A cache tree is using many inodes and you need to see file age distribution before deciding on a retention threshold.

Command

find /var/cache -xdev -type f -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td\n' 2>/dev/null | sort | uniq -c

Before you run this

System impact: Read-only. Can create load on large logs, directories, filesystems, or process tables.

When not to use it: Do not use file age alone for application-owned caches that have their own invalidation or lock semantics.

Expected output

Counts of cache files grouped by date.

System impact

Read-only, can be slow. Nothing changes. The command groups cache files by modification date.

May require elevated permissions on protected paths or service-owned files.

Scope this to the smallest useful path or service on busy systems.

Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.

When to use it

Use before age-based cache cleanup so the cutoff is based on the actual file population.

When not to use it

Do not use file age alone for application-owned caches that have their own invalidation or lock semantics.

next steps

Related commands

Hosting Operations Can be slow

Preview Old Temp Files Before Deleting

The safe version of cleanup is a candidate list first.

find /var/tmp/uploads -xdev -type f -mtime +7 -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td %10s %p\n' 2>/dev/null | sort

Hosting Operations Can be slow

Rank Old Cleanup Candidates by Size

The oldest file is not always the file that buys back meaningful space.

find /var -xdev -type f -mtime +7 -printf '%s %TY-%Tm-%Td %p\n' 2>/dev/null | sort -nr | head

Hosting Operations Can be slow

Review Log Files Before Cleanup

Before truncating logs, prove which log files are large and how old they are.

find /var/log -xdev -type f -printf '%10s %TY-%Tm-%Td %p\n' 2>/dev/null | sort -nr | head -50

Hosting Operations Can be slow

Find Directories Burning Inodes

Inode cleanup starts by finding the directory with too many files.

find /var/cache -xdev -type f -printf '%h\n' 2>/dev/null | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head

Hosting Operations Can be slow

Exclude the Current Release from Cleanup

Release cleanup should prove what current points to before listing old directories.

current=$(readlink -f /home/deploy/current); find /home/deploy/releases -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -samefile "$current" -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td %p\n' 2>/dev/null | sort

Study mapping

Use this as independent command practice: read the notes, predict the output, then compare it with the example before using a real shell.

Independent study support only. No affiliation, endorsement, exam dumps, or real exam questions.