How do I empty a file?

[hristo77]

Hi all,

I have a large file that a process writes to. I would like to empty that file. If I delete it the process will stop writing to it.

Just flush the content but keep the file.

Regards
H

[Irithori]

cat /dev/null > BIGFILE

[Lakshmipathi]

you can also use

> filename

[masinick]

> filename is a great answer. I knew about redirecting output and using /dev/null, but > filename is a much faster solution. I like it, and thanks for adding that to our arsenal of quick commands.

[Mudgen]

Just a technicality: if you delete it the process almost certainly continues writing to it, you just can't get to it any more.

[clowenstein]

More technicality. If you delete the file and the process is still writing to it, you have not released any space from the file system. The file continues to exist and take up space as long as any process is using it.

[MikeTbob]

More technicality. If you delete the file and the process is still writing to it, you have not released any space from the file system. The file continues to exist and take up space as long as any process is using it.

Oh noes!
A file system blackhole, coming for my data?!

What does > filename do? You can't leave us hanging like that, sorry.

[oz]

What does > filename do? You can't leave us hanging like that, sorry.

It will create an empty file with the same permissions that the file you are replacing had. Replace "filename" with the name of the file you want to be cleared. An example might be like this:

> /var/log/dmesg.log

[clowenstein]

Hi all,

I have a large file that a process writes to. I would like to empty that file. If I delete it the process will stop writing to it.

Just flush the content but keep the file.

Regards
H

To give any better answer, it will be necessary to know some details of the process that is writing to the file.

I have been suffering mentally from the difference between removing (rm filename) a file and emptying it ( > filename).

To quote _Unix Power Tools_ (O'Reilly 2003):

Sometimes you don't want to remove a file completely -- you just want to empty it:
* If an active process has the file open (not uncommon for log files), removing the file and creating a new one will not affect the logging program; those messages will just keep going to the file that's no longer linked. Emptying the file doesn't break the association, and so it clears the file without affecting the logging program.
. . .
* In Bourne-type shells the most efficient way is to redirect the output of a null command:
$ > afile
If the file already exists, that command will truncate the file without needing a subprocess.
. . .
You can also "almost" empty the file, leaving just a few lines, this way:
$ tail afile > tmpfile
$ cat tmpfile > afile
$ rm tmpfile
That's especially good for log files that you never want to delete completely. Use cat and rm, not mv -- mv will break any other links to the original file.

Hope this helps, and you are less confused than before.

[hristo77]

Thanks for everybodys help.

I have deleted this kinds of file before, and when using "du -sk *" the space seems to be reclaimed.

Regards
H