[SOLVED] bash script to get only the latest file from server

Pedroski · 03-16-2024, 01:40 AM

This bash script gets messages stored on the server.

How can I alter it to only get the latest message, or messages after a certain date?

Quote:

# now get the latest HW
echo "Fetching any messages ... "
# ssh -p 22 -i ~/.ssh/my_cloud_ed25519 pedro@123.123.123.123
user="pedro"
server="123.123.123.123"
Answers="/home/pedro/messages"
# where the uploaded contact messages go on the cloud server
# can't get the email to work
path1="/var/www/pedro.com/public_html/contact/messages"
echo "Second, get the files from the remote server to this computer."
rsync -av --remove-source-files --progress -e 'ssh -p 22 -i ~/.ssh/my_cloud_ed25519' $user@$server:${path1}/* "${Answers}"
echo "Got the files and saved them to "$Answers
echo "All done!"

Thanks for any tips!

Pedroski · 03-16-2024, 04:25 AM

Figured it out! At least 1 way.

Quote:

ssh -p 22 -i ~/.ssh/my_cloud_ed25519 pedro@123.123.123.123
user="pedro"
path1="/var/www/mywebpage.com/public_html/contact/messages"
putpath="/var/www/mywebpage.com/public_html/contact/save_newest/"
# get the name of the newest file
newest=`ls $path1 | sort -n -t _ -k 2 | tail -1`
mv -v $path1$newest $putpath

MadeInGermany · 03-16-2024, 07:47 AM

Use the sort in ls!
It sorts alphabetically by default, and -t sorts by time.

Code:

# get the name of the newest file
newest=`ls -tr "$path1" | tail -1`
[ -n "$newest" ] &&
  mv -v "$path1/$newest" "$putpath"

Pedroski · 03-17-2024, 01:16 AM

I'd like to know what this does, if you have time:

Quote:

[ -n "$newest" ]

I think it says: if exist $newest

Turbocapitalist · 03-17-2024, 03:43 AM

Check "man test" or "man [" for -n and the other test options. If-exists is -e and -n has a different meaning.

Pedroski · 03-17-2024, 04:29 AM

Thanks, I found this:

Quote:

-n STRING
the length of STRING is nonzero

STRING equivalent to -n STRING

-z STRING
the length of STRING is zero

How would I collect all files whose date is greater than a certain time?

MadeInGermany · 03-17-2024, 04:39 AM

And the reason is:
if the ls would not find any file then the mv would move the $path1/ (directory!) into the $outpath/

chrism01 · 03-19-2024, 12:22 AM

Quote:

How would I collect all files whose date is greater than a certain time?

You'd need to format the date/time in a FORMAT that makes each one easily sort-able eg

Code:

ls -l --time-style="+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"

See the 'date' cmd for details of avail date/time formats.