Database "pruning" tool?

Is there a tool that I can download for free that will "prune" a database?
Specifically what I have is a database that has player stats from a game
server. I'd like the ability to automatically remove any player records that
haven't been updated in a specific time period (delete players that haven't
played on the server in a specific time frame).

Does such a tool exist?.

Andy in NJ wrote:
> Is there a tool that I can download for free that will "prune" a database?
> Specifically what I have is a database that has player stats from a game
> server. I'd like the ability to automatically remove any player records that
> haven't been updated in a specific time period (delete players that haven't
> played on the server in a specific time frame).
>
> Does such a tool exist?.

You can easily do that with a SQL script and a cron job.

"Benoit St-Jean" <bstjean@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:BuGdnTlaauYUqSnfRVn-vw@adelphia.com...
> You can easily do that with a SQL script and a cron job.

Would you care to elaborate on this? I am only a little familiar with MySQL,
having figured out most of it on my own.

Anyone else got any input?

"Andy in NJ" <ADMIN at FLOTSERVER DOT NET> wrote in message
news:_KCdnZeCUdGJHi7fRVn-iQ@comcast.com...
> Is there a tool that I can download for free that will "prune" a database?
> Specifically what I have is a database that has player stats from a game
> server. I'd like the ability to automatically remove any player records
> that haven't been updated in a specific time period (delete players that
> haven't played on the server in a specific time frame).
>
> Does such a tool exist?.
>

*bump*

"Andy in NJ" <ADMIN at FLOTSERVER DOT NET> wrote in message
news:_KCdnZeCUdGJHi7fRVn-iQ@comcast.com...
> Is there a tool that I can download for free that will "prune" a database?
> Specifically what I have is a database that has player stats from a game
> server. I'd like the ability to automatically remove any player records
> that haven't been updated in a specific time period (delete players that
> haven't played on the server in a specific time frame).
>
> Does such a tool exist?.
>

Andy in NJ wrote:
>
> Would you care to elaborate on this? I am only a little familiar with MySQL,
> having figured out most of it on my own.
>

You can have a field that is of type TIMESTAMP and have the default
value be "ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP". You can then use a UNIX cron
job to execute an SQL script that would SELECT and subsequently DELETE
rows that fit the critera that you specify.

There are a million other solutions, too. This one works on MySQL 4.1
and above, but I do not think anything prior to it. However, you can
also write time to a field when you create the row with your script and
then use the SQL script to search and delete for that.

- Mike