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The manpage for find says:

 -prune True; if the file is a directory, do not descend into it. If -depth is given, false; no effect. Because -delete implies -depth, you cannot usefully use -prune and -delete together.

What is the meaning of the last sentence? Can't one usefully run the below command...

find /path/ -prune -type f -ctime +15 -delete

... to find and delete all files last changed more than 15 days ago in /path/ but not in the subdirectories under /path/? I think it's a perfectly valid use case.

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Looks like the problem is that -prune is ineffective if -depth is also used and -delete implies -depth.

As for the use case you're asking about, I've always used -maxdepth X.

For example

find /path/ -maxdepth 1 -type f -ctime +15 -delete

will do.

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    You're right. Use of -delete automatically turns on the `-depth' option., says the manpage just a few lines before. Guess I completely missed out that bit. Commented Sep 18, 2018 at 14:50

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