The following command applies a lifecycle configuration to the bucket my-bucket:

aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle --bucket my-bucket --lifecycle-configuration file://lifecycle.json

The file lifecycle.json is a JSON document in the current folder that specifies two rules:

{
  "Rules": [
    {
      "ID": "Move to Glacier after sixty days (objects in logs/2015/)",
      "Prefix": "logs/2015/",
      "Status": "Enabled",
      "Transition": {
        "Days": 60,
        "StorageClass": "GLACIER"
      }
    },
    {
      "Expiration": {
        "Date": "2016-01-01T00:00:00.000Z"
      },
      "ID": "Delete 2014 logs in 2016.",
      "Prefix": "logs/2014/",
      "Status": "Enabled"
    }
  ]
}

The first rule moves files to Amazon Glacier after sixty days. The second rule deletes files from Amazon S3 on the specified date. For information on acceptable timestamp formats, see Specifying Parameter Values in the AWS CLI User Guide.

Each rule in the above example specifies a policy (Transition or Expiration) and file prefix (folder name) to which it applies. You can also create a rule that applies to an entire bucket by specifying a blank prefix:

{
  "Rules": [
    {
      "ID": "Move to Glacier after sixty days (all objects in bucket)",
      "Prefix": "",
      "Status": "Enabled",
      "Transition": {
        "Days": 60,
        "StorageClass": "GLACIER"
      }
    }
  ]
}