how do i list just the first and last of a listing?

beeblequix · 10-03-2006, 11:44 AM

I have a series of files of this pattern:
name.log.nnn.gz.

I'd like to list just the first and last one, and being that linux is so robust I wonder how many different or better ways to do this there are.

This works:
ls -g name.log.001.gz name.log.999.gz

but it would be nice to use 'head' 'tail' 'gawk' etc. Ideas?

marozsas · 10-03-2006, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beeblequix

This works:
ls -g name.log.001.gz name.log.999.gz

I am not sure if I understand what you want, because you already knows how to do using head/tail:

Code:

$ ls -g | head -1; ls -g | tail -1

or better (only one listing of the directory)

Code:

$ ls -g > /tmp/listing.$$
$ head -1 /tmp/listing.$$
$ tail -1 /tmp/listing.$$

beeblequix · 10-03-2006, 12:48 PM

no no, i was looking for exactly that -- ";". Silly simple things...
Thanks a bunch