Linux directory file listing after a particular interval

ratul_11 · 02-20-2008, 05:05 AM

Dear All

Suppose there is a directory which is being used or accessed by several users / programs to store files. Now if I want to check after a certain time interval ( say per hour) how many files are being added to this directory [ I don't need to check how many files has been deleted] then how to do this?

Thanks & Regards in advance
Anirban Adhikary

slakmagik · 02-20-2008, 07:01 AM

I hope this isn't homework. Kinda sounds like it.

If you want to know how many more files there are than there were, have cron run this hourly - probably a better way, of course, but it may work.

Code:

find_cmd() { find DIR -type f | wc -l > file_number; }

if [ -f file_number ]; then
  mv file_number file_number.old
  find_cmd
  echo $(($(cat file_number)-$(cat file_number.old)))
else
  find_cmd
fi

If you just want to know how many files have been added, then this could work - though it'll just check timestamps - someone could 'touch' every file in the DIR and this would return every file.

Code:

if [ ! -f timestamp ]; then
    touch timestamp
fi
find DIR -type f -newer timestamp | wc -l
touch timestamp

If these aren't right, at least they might give some ideas.

forrestt · 02-20-2008, 08:33 AM

You don't need to use a timestamp file with find, it can tell you what files have been modified between two time parameters. For example:

Code:

find . -mmin +0 -mmin -60

will tell you which files or directories have been modified in the last hour. You can change the interval to match your needs.

If you are only concerned with files and not subdirectories in your count include the "-type f" parameter.

Also as noted by digiot, if a file is modified it will be included in the time period it was last modified, not when it was first added.

HTH

Forrest