So on a regular basis I clear out files from my server which have an atime +160 with a command such as: (technically to delete old files but avoid any file that might have been accessed recently)
find /tmp/art -atime +160 -exec rm -f {} \;
However, for some reason today no files show up unless I do atime +10. It appears all my files somehow got the access time changed to earlier this month. I've recently read the find command itself if used like the following would modify the atime:
find /tmp/art -atime +160 -exec ls -l {} \;
But from my experience running either command has never changed the atime before. I was going to use ctime but just found out it does not mean change time.
My questions are:
- Is it just a fluke the find command is not modifying my -atime or was the information I read incorrect?
- If the files are available via a webserver for a user to browse them, would them downloading the file modify the atime? Or is the atime only modified when accessed via terminal/ssh?
