Using Awk to make Archives based on dates.

HunterColt22 · 05-27-2007, 11:14 PM

Just as the title says, I wish to know how to make a script program that when run will make back ups of my files and directories on my system, while catgaorizing them dependt upon the year and month they were first made in. I know this is an odd question to ask for my first post, but this is really bugging me, any help would be great. Also, hi I am sort of new to Linux, have been working with it for a little bit, but not to too long. What I have been working with I like but I am not an ace programmer so its a learning curve just a bit for me. Again any help would be great and thanks again everyone.

~HunterColt22

twantrd · 05-28-2007, 01:09 AM

This is a very simple bash script to backup a directory called "twantrd":

Code:

#!/bin/bash

date=`date '+%Y%m%d'`
tar -zcf twantrd.tar.gz.${date} twantrd

tar is pretty much the most commonly used command to make backups of files/directories. I added in the date command so that you know when that archive has been created and you can sort it however you like. If you don't know what the flags I used mean, a simple 'man <command>' will tell you. Let us know if you need additional help understanding this script or expanding it even more.

-twantrd

archtoad6 · 05-28-2007, 09:03 AM

How do you want to do the categorizing: back up directory structure, a text file listing, something else?

HunterColt22 · 05-28-2007, 04:43 PM

Basically, I want to be able to back up my all of my files on my current home directory, but when it backs them up, I would like the script to put the backups into different directories. I just need to know how to make the tar command back up my home directory contents, and then incorporate the date function into it. I was thinking it would be something like

#!/bin/bash

tar -zcf#Insert command to back up home directory here#.tar.gz

if [# Any file made in may of 2006 is found]
then
#Put it in a directory called may 06

and have that same setup for each month, if I can do this would it just be a bunch of if elif statements? Or would it be something completly different? thanks agian for all the help you are all giving.

twantrd · 05-29-2007, 02:50 AM

From the top of my head, a for loop is what you are looking for. Something like:

Code:

for month in "Jan" "Feb" "Mar" ....
do
# ls files and look to see if their modification time stamp matches the month
# if they do, copy them to their appropriate directory (if statement goes here)
done

# Now run your tar command to backup each directory.

Start writing some code and we'll help you with your logic and any questions you may have.

-twantrd