Linux delete file with size 0

Question

How do I delete a certain file in linux if its size is 0. I want to execute this in an crontab without any extra script.

l filename.file | grep 5th-tab | not eq 0 | rm

Something like this?

Solution 1

This will delete all the files in a directory (and below) that are size zero.

find /tmp -size 0 -print -delete

If you just want a particular file;

if [ ! -s /tmp/foo ] ; then
  rm /tmp/foo
fi

Solution 2

you would want to use find:

 find . -size 0 -delete

Solution 3

To search and delete empty files in the current directory and subdirectories:

find . -type f -empty -delete

-type f is necessary because also directories are marked to be of size zero.

---

The dot . (current directory) is the starting search directory. If you have GNU find (e.g. not Mac OS), you can omit it in this case:

find -type f -empty -delete

From GNU find documentation:

If no files to search are specified, the current directory (.) is used.

Solution 4

You can use the command find to do this. We can match files with -type f, and match empty files using -size 0. Then we can delete the matches with -delete.

find . -type f -size 0 -delete

Solution 5

This works for plain BSD so it should be universally compatible with all flavors. Below.e.g in pwd ( . )

find . -size 0 |  xargs rm

View more solutions

Comments

[FrankH.]

shortcut: [ -s /tmp/foo ] || rm /tmp/foo (test if size is zero, else remove). Also note the xargs is unsafe if file/directory names contain spaces; find ... -exec rm '{}' \; is safe in that situation.

[Paul Tomblin]

@Frank, you are incorrect about xargs. The '-print0` and xargs -0 corrects for the spaces.

[C. K. Young]

@FrankH: Plus, even if using find -exec, always favour + over ; in cases where you can (and this is one such case).

[Antonio]

I would add "-type f", as also directory are marked to be of size zero. The "dot" is optional.

[Jakub M.]

The "dot" is optional for Linux, but not optional for Mac OS

[Antonio]

@JakubM. Thanks, I edited my answer accordingly.

[Nick]

Very elegant solution!

[Yehosef]

you can just use the -delete flag - saves an exec.

[OnlineCop]

Would rm -- (note the trailing -- characters) be safer here than simply rm to prevent rogue filenames? serverfault.com/questions/337082/…

[lilydjwg]

There is an -empty option :-)

[Anne van Rossum]

@lilydjwg Exactly, if we're allowed to use non POSIX flags, find . -empty -delete is the coolest. :-)

[aloisdg]

You can add -maxdepth 1 for the current folder.

[Antonio]

Doesn't BSD support -delete option? freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?find(1)

[Anthony]

-bash: /usr/bin/du: Argument list too long

[user7194913]

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -size 0 -delete This finds the empthy files in the current directory without going into sub-directories.

[Simon Baars]

Is there also a command for running a dry run, to see which files would get removed?

[Paul Tomblin]

@SimonBaars find /tmp -size 0 -print0 |xargs -0 echo rm

[Colin 't Hart]

@Antonio OpenBSD 6.0 at least doesn't.

[Ruslan]

Why not simply -delete?

[Paul Tomblin]

@Ruslan because -delete is new, and my version works with every version of find produced in the last 40 years.

[Ruslan]

Is -print0 really 40 years old and ubiquitous?

[Paul Tomblin]

@Rusian pretty sure it was in BSD 4.3, although apparently it didn't get into strict SysV Unices like early AIX.

[jspek]

I would add -name '*.SomeFileExtension' for example: if you wanted to delete just text files then I would use: find . -name '*.txt' -type f -empty -delete

[Antonio]

@jspek, well, that depends if you have that specific use... Usually when you are after empty files you are up to kill them all. :)

[ArendE]

Had to grab a coffee after running this command on a directory with 2.2 million files. :P Had worked like a charm when I came back, 350.000 remained. Thanks!