file-declutter

Script to Auto-Delete Files in a directory after a certain amount of time

What it does

The script is intended to reduce digital file clutter by auto-deleting files past a certain age.

It recursively scans a directory on your computer and records any files that it finds along with a timestamp for when they first appeared in the directory. If a file in that directory has been modified recently, it updates the "first appeared" timestamp to the file's modification time. If a file is more than 60 days old, then the script will delete it. The script will immediately delete any empty directories.

Why I made it

I liked the convenience of using the Linux /tmp directory to auto-delete files, but I wanted something with more persistence.

Example use cases

• Experiment on copies of your files with new software so you don't screw up the original files
• Saving memes to share with friends that will be stale in a few weeks
• Edit photos, videos or audio files in different ways while you decide which version you will keep
• For any short-term projects where you don't need to store your work long-term

How to use

1. Create a directory at $HOME/Downloads/'2 months to live/'
2. Create a directory logs/ inside that directory
3. Set up a cron job or task scheduler to run the script every 6 hours or so.
4. You can manually delete any files in the temp directory at any time, except for the cleanup_shelf file in the logs/ folder. Don't mess with that one, or it will reset the clock on all the other files.

How to customize for your setup

• You can change the location of your "temp directory" in line 9.
• You can increase or decrease the retention time in line 10.

Other notes

• Not tested on Windows or Mac
• The "hitdict" variable name is a play on words. We are creating a hit list of files to delete...but they are stored in a Python dictionary, so it's a hit dict instead. Clever?
• I don't understand the different software licenses. As far as I'm concerned, this script is public domain.