# How to delete cache based on expires headers? **URL:** \ **Category:** NGINX\ **Created:** [December 19, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-delete-cache-based-on-expires-headers/238137 "2013-12-19T05:21:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![musicdenotation](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@musicdenotation](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/musicdenotation)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-delete-cache-based-on-expires-headers/238137/1 "2013-12-19T05:21:26Z")
Hi I’m using proxy\_cache to mirror my files with the configuration below proxy\_cache\_path /var/cache/nginx/image levels=1:2 keys\_zone=one:10m inactive=7d max\_size=100g; Our backend server has the expires header set to 600secs Is that posibble for us to also delete the cache files located at/var/cache/nginx/image depends on the backend expire header? ---
**Author:** ![Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/ce7236/32.png) [@Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indo_P)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-delete-cache-based-on-expires-headers/238137/2 "2013-12-24T03:58:39Z")
Hello… Can somebody help me on this? Thank you before On Thursday, December 19, 2013 11:21 AM, Indo P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: Hi I’m using proxy\_cache to mirror my files with the configuration below proxy\_cache\_path /var/cache/nginx/image levels=1:2 keys\_zone=one:10m inactive=7d max\_size=100g; Our backend server has the expires header set to 600secs Is that posibble for us to also delete the cache files located at/var/cache/nginx/image depends on the backend expire header? ---
**Author:** ![Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/ce7236/32.png) [@Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indo_P)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-delete-cache-based-on-expires-headers/238137/3 "2013-12-24T16:20:51Z")
Using change de name the file or change size file. Regards, ---
**Author:** ![Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/ce7236/32.png) [@Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indo_P)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-delete-cache-based-on-expires-headers/238137/4 "2013-12-30T05:28:32Z")
Hi Is that means that nginx will put the files based on the upstream expire headers? After that nginx will delete the cache files? On Tuesday, December 24, 2013 10:28 PM, Antnio P. P. Almeida [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: Why you want to do this? nginx can manage expiration/cache-control headers all by itself. As soon as the defined max-age is set it returns a upstream status of EXPIRED until it fetches a fresh page from upstream. Deleting won’t buy you anything in terms of content freshness. ----appa On Tue, Dec 24, 2013 at 3:57 AM, Indo P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: Hello… ---
**Author:** ![Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/ce7236/32.png) [@Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indo_P)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-delete-cache-based-on-expires-headers/238137/5 "2013-12-24T16:28:26Z")
Why you want to do this? nginx can manage expiration/cache-control headers all by itself. As soon as the defined max-age is set it returns a upstream status of EXPIRED until it fetches a fresh page from upstream. Deleting won’t buy you anything in terms of content freshness. ----appa ---
**Author:** ![Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/ce7236/32.png) [@Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indo_P)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-delete-cache-based-on-expires-headers/238137/6 "2014-01-02T20:19:32Z")
Yes. Nginx will obey the Cache-Control/Expire headers. It won’t delete, but it will refresh the files so that the served content is fresh. So it is as if the files were deleted. AFAIK deletion happens more often when the file is not accessed for given time specified through the inactive parameter of the proxy\_cache\_path/fastcgi\_cache\_path directives. ----appa ---
**Author:** ![Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/ce7236/32.png) [@Indo\_P](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Indo_P)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-delete-cache-based-on-expires-headers/238137/7 "2014-01-06T05:18:17Z")
Thanks that makes clear! On Friday, January 3, 2014 2:19 AM, Antnio P. P. Almeida [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: Yes. Nginx will obey the Cache-Control/Expire headers. It won’t delete, but it will refresh the files so that the served content is fresh. So it is as if the files were deleted. AFAIK deletion happens more often when the file is not accessed for given time specified through the inactive parameter of the proxy\_cache\_path/fastcgi\_cache\_path directives. ----appa On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 5:27 AM, Indo P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: Hi