UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Team,

Pls help writing a shell script which will sort all the files in a directory with the timestamp they were created. (like ls -lrt)

Is it a home work ?

whats wrong with

Code:

ls -lrt

? ^^

After veto from a user the thread is reopened. If this tends to be homework though and op will not state what exactly is needed and why, thread will be closed again.

---------- Post updated at 12:33 PM ---------- Previous update was at 09:16 AM ----------

Just another thing - there is no such thing as creation time.
Accessing (atime), changing the files permissions and/or the contents (ctime) and modificating it's contents only (mtime) are the given things you can handle with ls.

As zaxxon rightly points out there is no such definition as "file creation time".
In a modern unix the nearest you will get is:

Code:

ls -lrct

However the moment the inode is modified (e.g. by chmod or by some backup software) the "ctime" timestamp changes.

This used to work in Berkeley unix.

hi all,
you can user "sort

---------- Post updated at 01:05 PM ---------- Previous update was at 01:04 PM ----------

you can use "sort" command.
thanx

To reiterate this command sorts the directory by last modified timestamp, not by "created" timestamp.

Code:

ls -lrt

The nearest you will get is to sort by the time the inode was last modified which can often be when the file was created but actions such as "chmod" or modifications by backup software can change this timestamp.

Code:

ls -lrct

If it is critical to know when a file was created one must write software to record the creation time in an independent index.