Skip to main content

Delete Old Files to Free Space

Description​

The delete_old_files function frees up space in a specified folder by deleting the oldest files until enough space is available to meet the required bytes. This can be helpful in scenarios where storage space needs to be managed dynamically.

Function Signature:​

def delete_old_files(folder_path: str, needed_bytes: int) -> int:

Parameters​

  • folder_path (str): The path to the folder where old files will be deleted.
  • needed_bytes (int): The number of bytes of free space that need to be available. Files will be deleted until this space is freed.

Returns​

  • int: The function returns 0 if it successfully freed enough space, or -1 if an error occurred.

Example Usage​

result = delete_old_files('/path/to/folder', 5000000)  # Free 5MB of space
if result == 0:
    print("Space freed successfully.")
else:
    print("An error occurred.")

Notes​

  • The function first calculates the creation time and size of each file in the specified folder.
  • Files are sorted by creation time, and the oldest files are deleted first.
  • The process stops once the required number of bytes (needed_bytes) have been freed.
  • The function returns 0 if enough space is freed and -1 if an error occurs (e.g., due to file permission issues).

Error Handling​

  • The function returns -1 in case of an error, but the specific error is not handled explicitly.