| Type | Every rule manages a specific package type. |
| Apply pattern to full package name | If enabled, the patterns below are applied to the full package name (`package/version`). Otherwise only the version (`version`) is used. |
| Keep the most recent | How many versions to _always_ keep for each package. |
| Keep versions matching | The regex pattern that determines which versions to keep. An empty pattern keeps no version while `.+` keeps all versions. The container registry will always keep the `latest` version even if not configured. |
| Remove versions older than | Remove only versions older than the selected days. |
| Remove versions matching | The regex pattern that determines which versions to remove. An empty pattern or `.+` leads to the removal of every package if no other setting tells otherwise. |
Every cleanup rule can show a preview of the affected packages.
This can be used to check if the cleanup rules is proper configured.
### Regex examples
Regex patterns are automatically surrounded with `\A` and `\z` anchors.
Do not include any `\A`, `\z`, `^` or `$` token in the regex patterns as they are not necessary.
The patterns are case-insensitive which matches the behaviour of the package registry in Forgejo.
| `release.*` | Match versions that are either named or start with `release`. |
| `.+-temp-.+` | Match versions that contain `-temp-`. |
| `v.+\|release` | Match versions that either start with `v` or are named `release`. |
| `package/v.+\|other/release` | Match versions of the package `package` that start with `v` or the version `release` of the package `other`. This needs the setting _Apply pattern to full package name_ enabled. |
### How the cleanup rules work
The cleanup rules are part of the [clean up job]../../admin/config-cheat-sheet/#cron---cleanup-expired-packages-croncleanup_packages) and run periodically.
The cleanup rule:
1. Collects all packages of the package type for the owners registry.
1. For every package it collects all versions.
1. Excludes from the list the # versions based on the _Keep the most recent_ value.
1. Excludes from the list any versions matching the _Keep versions matching_ value.
1. Excludes from the list the versions more recent than the _Remove versions older than_ value.
1. Excludes from the list any versions not matching the _Remove versions matching_ value.
