Apache HTTP Server Version 2.2

Apache > HTTP Server > Documentation > Version 2.2 > Programs

#### Please note

This document refers to a legacy release (2.2) of Apache httpd. The active release (2.4) is documented here. If you have not already upgraded, please follow this link for more information.

You may follow this link to go to the current version of this document.

# htcacheclean - Clean up the disk cache

Available Languages: en | ko | tr

`htcacheclean` is used to keep the size of `mod_disk_cache`'s storage within a certain limit. This tool can run either manually or in daemon mode. When running in daemon mode, it sleeps in the background and checks the cache directories at regular intervals for cached content to be removed. You can stop the daemon cleanly by sending it a TERM or INT signal.

### See also

- `mod_disk_cache`

- Comments

## Synopsis

`htcacheclean [ -D ] [ -v ] [ -t ] [ -r ] [ -n ] -ppath -llimit`

`htcacheclean [ -n ] [ -t ] [ -i ] -dinterval -ppath -llimit`

## Options

`-dinterval`
  Daemonize and repeat cache cleaning every interval minutes. This option is mutually exclusive with the `-D`, `-v` and `-r` options. To shutdown the daemon cleanly, just send it a `SIGTERM` or `SIGINT`.
`-D`
  Do a dry run and don't delete anything. This option is mutually exclusive with the `-d` option.
`-v`
  Be verbose and print statistics. This option is mutually exclusive with the `-d` option.
`-r`
  Clean thoroughly. This assumes that the Apache web server is not running (otherwise you may get garbage in the cache). This option is mutually exclusive with the `-d` option and implies the `-t` option.
`-n`
  Be nice. This causes slower processing in favour of other processes. `htcacheclean` will sleep from time to time so that (a) the disk IO will be delayed and (b) the kernel can schedule other processes in the meantime.
`-t`
  Delete all empty directories. By default only cache files are removed, however with some configurations the large number of directories created may require attention. If your configuration requires a very large number of directories, to the point that inode or file allocation table exhaustion may become an issue, use of this option is advised.
`-ppath`
  Specify path as the root directory of the disk cache. This should be the same value as specified with the `CacheRoot` directive.
`-llimit`
  Specify limit as the total disk cache size limit. The value is expressed in bytes by default (or attaching `B` to the number). Attach `K` for Kbytes or `M` for MBytes.
`-i`
  Be intelligent and run only when there was a modification of the disk cache. This option is only possible together with the `-d` option.

## Exit Status

`htcacheclean` returns a zero status ("true") if all operations were successful, `1` otherwise.

Available Languages: en | ko | tr

## Comments

Notice:
This is not a Q&A section. Comments placed here should be pointed towards suggestions on improving the documentation or server, and may be removed again by our moderators if they are either implemented or considered invalid/off-topic. Questions on how to manage the Apache HTTP Server should be directed at either our IRC channel, #httpd, on Freenode, or sent to our mailing lists.