Node Modules Cleaner

A simple shell script which deletes all node_modules folders in the provided directory and all subdirectories. Handy for cleaning up old projects and getting some of that disk space back.

Usage

./clean_node_modules.sh /path/to/directory

Example

./clean_node_modules.sh /home/user/projects

In the end it generates a log file with the list of deleted node_modules folders along with the size of each folder.

Also it prints the list of deleted node_modules folders and the space freed in the terminal.

sh clean_node_modules.sh ./2024
Deleted: ./2024/proj1/node_modules
Space Freed: 316K

Deleted: ./2024/proj2/images/node_modules
Space Freed: 568K

Deleted: ./2024/proj3/audio/node_modules
Space Freed: 112M

Deleted: ./2024/proj4/app/node_modules
Space Freed: 341M

Deleted: ./2024/proj5/code-name/app/node_modules
Space Freed: 332M

Report generated at: node_modules_deletion_report.txt

Complete Tutorial

Following doc made with the help of chatgpt-4o (helps greatly in covering edge cases while developing scripts ) gives a detailed explanation of the script. In case you are new to shell scripting and want to get the hang of it.

Shell Script Explanation: Deleting node_modules Directories

This document aims to provide an easy-to-understand tutorial on how the provided shell script works. The script is designed to traverse a given directory and delete all folders named node_modules recursively, generating a report of the deletions and disk space reclaimed.

Script Breakdown

Shebang and Script Initialization

#!/bin/bash

• #!/bin/bash:
  • This line specifies the script interpreter. It tells the system to use the Bash shell to execute the script.

Argument Check

# Check if the path is provided as an argument
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
  echo "Usage: $0 <path>"
  exit 1
fi

TARGET_PATH="$1"

• if [ -z "$1" ]; then:
  • Checks if the first argument ($1) is provided. $1 represents the first command-line argument.
• echo "Usage: $0 <path>":
  • If no argument is provided, prints a usage message showing how to use the script.
• exit 1:
  • Exits the script with a status of 1, indicating an error.
• TARGET_PATH="$1":
  • Assigns the first argument to the variable TARGET_PATH.

Preparation of the Report File

REPORT_FILE="node_modules_deletion_report.txt"

# Prepare the report file
echo "Node Modules Deletion Report" > "$REPORT_FILE"
echo "============================" >> "$REPORT_FILE"
echo "" >> "$REPORT_FILE"

• REPORT_FILE="node_modules_deletion_report.txt":
  • Defines the report file's name.
• The subsequent three echo commands:
  • Initialize the report file with a title and some formatting.

Function Definition: delete_node_modules

# Function to delete node_modules and track disk usage
delete_node_modules() {
  local dir="$1"
  local size=$(du -sh "$dir/node_modules" 2>/dev/null | cut -f1)

  if [ -n "$size" ]; then
    rm -rf "$dir/node_modules"
    echo "Deleted: $dir/node_modules" | tee -a "$REPORT_FILE"
    echo "Space Freed: $size" | tee -a "$REPORT_FILE"
    echo "" | tee -a "$REPORT_FILE"
  fi
}

• delete_node_modules() { ... }:
  • Defines a function named delete_node_modules.
• local dir="$1":
  • The dir variable is set to the function's first argument.
• local size=$(du -sh "$dir/node_modules" 2>/dev/null | cut -f1):
  • Calculates the disk usage of the node_modules directory and captures its size.
  • du -sh: Displays the size in a human-readable format.
  • 2>/dev/null: Suppresses error messages.
  • cut -f1: Extracts the size value.
• if [ -n "$size" ]; then:
  • Checks if size is non-empty.
• rm -rf "$dir/node_modules":
  • Deletes the node_modules directory.
• The subsequent echo commands:
  • Append deletion information to both the console and the report file using tee.

Exporting the Function

# Export the function to be used by 'find'
export -f delete_node_modules
export REPORT_FILE

• export -f delete_node_modules:
  • Exports the function so it can be invoked by subshells started by find.
• export REPORT_FILE:
  • Exports the report file variable to make it accessible to subshells.

Find and Execute Deletion

# Find all node_modules folders and delete them
find "$TARGET_PATH" -name "node_modules" -type d -prune -exec bash -c 'delete_node_modules "$(dirname "{}")"' \;

• find "$TARGET_PATH":
  • Starts a search within the TARGET_PATH.
• -name "node_modules":
  • Looks for directories named node_modules.
• -type d:
  • Restricts the search to directories.
• -prune:
  • Avoids descending into directories that match the -name criteria.
• -exec bash -c 'delete_node_modules "$(dirname "{}")"' \;:
  • For each found node_modules directory, executes the delete_node_modules function in a new Bash shell, passing the parent directory as an argument.

Final Report Notification

echo "Report generated at: $REPORT_FILE"

• Informs the user that the report has been generated and specifies the report file's location.

Conclusion

By breaking down the script into these functional blocks, you can understand how each part contributes to the whole. This script checks for the argument, prepares a report file, defines a function to delete node_modules directories and record their sizes, and finally uses the find command to locate and delete these directories.