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How do I get the name of latest file?

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# 1  
Old 01-02-2009
How do I get the name of latest file?
1) How do I get the name of latest file in a variable?

2) Is it safe to delete all files from a dir

I am doing

cd $dir_name

if return_code > 0
rm *
fi

what are other alternates to delete all files from a dir in a shell script?

Smilie
# 2  
Old 01-02-2009
Hammer & Screwdriver
answering #1
Code:
ls -ltr | tail -1

will give you all info on the most recent file in the current folder
Code:
ls -ltr | tail -1 | awk '{print $9}'

will give you just the filename
Code:
MYFILE=`ls -ltr | tail -1 | awk '{print $9}'`

will put that filename into $MYFILE

for #2
normally not best to cd then rm, better to
Code:
rm \dir\folder\*

or similar.
Seen too many examples where the cd failed, and then all files were deleted or some other command executed.
# 3  
Old 01-02-2009
Yes, deleting all files from a directory is safe... until you inadvertently hit a system directory and your config/essential programs go bye-bye.
To get the newest file, issue a VAR=`ls -tr1|head -n 1`
# 4  
Old 01-02-2009
Thanks - It worked.
Thanks

Smilie
# 5  
Old 01-03-2009
Quote:
will give you all info on the most recent file in the current folder
Code:

ls -ltr | tail -1 | awk '{print $9}'
tail not needed

just this would do

Code:
ls -lrt | awk 'END{print $9 }'

# 6  
Old 01-03-2009
Code:
To print the last field of last line
$ ls -lrt | awk '{ f=$NF }; END{ print f }'

This also works sometime
$ ls -t1 | head -n1

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