Removing thousands of files using rm

[Kirk Strauser]

On Tuesday 2004-07-06 09:15 am, Steve Bertrand wrote:

> The directory I am trying to remove the files from is always hot, so
> deleting the directory is unfortunately not an option. (I don't think).

If the directory is /var/tmp/foo, what about making "foo" a symlink to 
"foo.0", then do something like:

  # mkdir foo.1
  # ln -fsn foo.1 foo
  # rm -rf foo.0

I'm reasonably sure that the second line is an atomic operation, although I 
don't have the time to verify it just now.  I'm sure someone will correct 
me if I'm wrong.  :)

Anyway, /var/tmp/foo would always exist and point to a valid destination.  
You'd have your "hot" directory while being able to move the old version 
out of the way for deletion at your leisure.
-- 
Kirk Strauser