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Delete all but newest of given file name type

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# 1  
Old 08-20-2018
Delete all but newest of given file name type
I use this to make it easier to see when a backup script ran.
Code:
touch /media/andy/MAXTOR_SDB1/Ubuntu_Mate_18.04/$( date '+%m-%d-%Y_%I:%M-%p' )

I would like a script that would delete all but the newest file ONLY of this type 08-20-2018_01:24-PM
# 2  
Old 08-20-2018
How would you apply what you learned in your last week's thread ?
# 3  
Old 08-20-2018
I got it.

Code:
ls -1r /media/andy/MAXTOR_SDB1/Ubuntu_Mate_18.04/08-20-2018_* | 
# skip (leave) the 5 newest
tail -n +3 |
# show (delete) the 3 oldest
tail -n -3 |
while IFS= read -r file
do
  rm "$file"
done   
exit 0

Last edited by drew77; 08-20-2018 at 05:25 PM..
# 4  
Old 08-21-2018
Quote:
Originally Posted by drew77
I got it.

Code:
ls -1r /media/andy/MAXTOR_SDB1/Ubuntu_Mate_18.04/08-20-2018_* | 
# skip (leave) the 5 newest
tail -n +3 |
# show (delete) the 3 oldest
tail -n -3 |
while IFS= read -r file
do
  rm "$file"
done   
exit 0

If you want to skip the 5 newest files, don't you want:
Code:
tail -n +5

instead of:
Code:
tail -n +3

?
# 5  
Old 08-21-2018
You are right. I found a problem with it though.

It will only work with files created in August.

This will work on any file date.

Code:
TARGET_DIR='/media/andy/MAXTOR_SDB1/Ubuntu_Mate_18.04/'
REGEX='[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}_[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}'   # regular expression that match to: date '+%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M'
LATEST_FILE="$(ls "$TARGET_DIR" | egrep "^${REGEX}$" | tail -1)"
find "$TARGET_DIR" ! -name "$LATEST_FILE" -type f -regextype egrep -regex ".*/${REGEX}$" -exec rm -f {} +

I went back to year month day format. I was told it was easier to parse.

Thanks for you help.
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