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Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting shell script preserving last 2 versions of files Post 302252091 by synergy_texas on Tuesday 28th of October 2008 06:43:18 PM
Old 10-28-2008
shell script preserving last 2 versions of files

I need some help with the logic and syntax for a shell script (ksh) that will search a directory and look for similar files and save only the last two versions. The version number is in the file name. However, the files are of varying name lengths and may have 1 or many files, with no limit to the number of files. I am not sure that using the find command for date/timestamp is a good idea because these are adhoc files that get created.

For example:
Directory may have files like below

apps_V01.xml
betarelease_V01.xml
betarelease_V02.xml
betarelease_V03.xml
test_V01.xml
test_V02.xml
test_V03.xml
test_V04.xml
testing_V01.xml
testing_V(..).xml Representing all numbers 2 -99
testing_V100.xml

The result should be:
apps_V01.xml
betarelease_V02.xml
betarelease_V03.xml
test_V03.xml
test_V04.xml
testing_V99.xml
testing_V100.xml

I thought about putting the listing into a text file and then substringing the names using awk, but don't know how I would handle the number of similar files. My thought is to output the listing to a file, read the file until it reaches a new file creating an array of files and then save the last two in the array. Then read for the next set of files. But again, not sure how to do that. A problem also occurs when I only have 1 version of a file. I welcome any sed, awk or ksh commands. I don't know enough about Perl or any other language in order to do this. Some help would be greatly appreciated. I have searched more than 300 postings and not coming up with anything fairly close to what I need to accomplish.

Last edited by synergy_texas; 10-28-2008 at 07:56 PM..
 

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exit(1)                                                            User Commands                                                           exit(1)

NAME
exit, return, goto - shell built-in functions to enable the execution of the shell to advance beyond its sequence of steps SYNOPSIS
sh exit [n] return [n] csh exit [ ( expr )] goto label ksh *exit [n] *return [n] DESCRIPTION
sh exit will cause the calling shell or shell script to exit with the exit status specified by n. If n is omitted the exit status is that of the last command executed (an EOF will also cause the shell to exit.) return causes a function to exit with the return value specified by n. If n is omitted, the return status is that of the last command exe- cuted. csh exit will cause the calling shell or shell script to exit, either with the value of the status variable or with the value specified by the expression expr. The goto built-in uses a specified label as a search string amongst commands. The shell rewinds its input as much as possible and searches for a line of the form label: possibly preceded by space or tab characters. Execution continues after the indicated line. It is an error to jump to a label that occurs between a while or for built-in command and its corresponding end. ksh exit will cause the calling shell or shell script to exit with the exit status specified by n. The value will be the least significant 8 bits of the specified status. If n is omitted then the exit status is that of the last command executed. When exit occurs when executing a trap, the last command refers to the command that executed before the trap was invoked. An end-of-file will also cause the shell to exit except for a shell which has the ignoreeof option (See set below) turned on. return causes a shell function or '.' script to return to the invoking script with the return status specified by n. The value will be the least significant 8 bits of the specified status. If n is omitted then the return status is that of the last command executed. If return is invoked while not in a function or a '.' script, then it is the same as an exit. On this man page, ksh(1) commands that are preceded by one or two * (asterisks) are treated specially in the following ways: 1. Variable assignment lists preceding the command remain in effect when the command completes. 2. I/O redirections are processed after variable assignments. 3. Errors cause a script that contains them to abort. 4. Words, following a command preceded by ** that are in the format of a variable assignment, are expanded with the same rules as a vari- able assignment. This means that tilde substitution is performed after the = sign and word splitting and file name generation are not performed. ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | |Availability |SUNWcsu | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
break(1), csh(1), ksh(1), sh(1), attributes(5) SunOS 5.10 15 Apr 1994 exit(1)
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