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onesandzeros

08-24-2010 05:58 PM

bash - find newest file in a directory

Hello everyone,

Basically, I am trying to locate and copy the newest .json bookmark backup in my .mozilla/firefox/w987sdg9.default/bookmarkbackups directory.

I tried this

Code:

ls -t ~/.mozilla/firefox/b1ahb1ah.default/bookmarkbackups/ | head -1

which does return the newest file, but only the filename itself. I found readlink, but I haven't gotten that to output a full path which I can then feed to copy.

So, it seems to me that find might work well here, and I know how to find based on absolute dates, but not relative.

Is there a "good" way to do this? Thanks!

GrapefruiTgirl

08-24-2010 06:09 PM

This is interesting, and maybe hackish, but try this:

Code:



find /home/sasha -type f -iname $(ls -t ~/.mozilla/firefox/wu0fj5gp.Default/bookmarkbackups/ | head -1)

Just replace the bold part with your home directory path (like /home/onesandzeros)

Plus, you can use the find commands -exec option to run `cp` and do the copying for you, something like:

Code:

find /home/sasha -type f -iname $(ls -t ~/.mozilla/firefox/b1ahb1ah.Default/bookmarkbackups/ | head -1) -exec cp {} /destination/path \;

As I said - hackish :) but effective. Other better ways will likely follow.

Sasha

Kenny_Strawn

08-24-2010 06:21 PM

Or, easier:

Code:

find ~ -type f -iname $(ls -t ~/.mozilla/firefox/wu0fj5gp.Default/bookmarkbackups | head -1)

Just use the universal symbol for the home directory, a tilde. Or the $HOME variable, whichever you choose.

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