UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,
I am new to unix and I am stuck on how to compare two .zip file with date stamp in my directory. I need to compare out of the two file which is oldest to current date and unzip it after that done continue to unzip the second zip file.

Thanks for your help.

This should work:

Code:

ls -rt *.zip | xargs unzip

Bartus11,
Thanks for the reply.

I have a two file ghx_temp_20111214.zip and ghx_temp_20111215.zip. Date changes depending on data delay. So in order for me to unzip it. I would be compairing the date stamp with today date. If the file is older than today date than unzip that first and start a execute process.

Is there a way to to put it in a for loop to loop through the file than check the date with a if statement to begin the process??

You don't have to compare them with today's date. It is enough to compare two of them with one another. If the timestamp is the only variable part of the filename, then simple "ls" will output files sorted alphabetically, which in turn gives the older file first. Try this then:

Code:

ls *.zip | xargs unzip

Is "the date stamp" the one in the name of the file or the one in the unix directory entry?

There are lots of ways to deal with this. As always, you'll get a better answer if you give better info (like, methyl's question could be crucial). You also didn't say what OS you're usuing. Here's a potential way that could get you started. It deals with the zip files based on their mtime (and ignores the "datestamp" in the filename).

Code:

#!/bin/bash
for file in $(ls -tr ghx*zip); do
   unzip -d "$file/" "$file"
   YOUR_PROCESS "$file/extracted_file"
   rm -r "$file/"
   mv "$file" SOME_ARCHIVE_DIR/
done

PS: All the quotes are not necessary if your zips are really always named as your examples, with no spaces.
PPS: Look at the ls man page to understand exactly what's happening. And the unzip one as well, if you need to.