UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi i was trying to find the files which are not older than one day and copy them to other location . but i need to count the number of files and the copy them if the count is matches my number

Code:

A=`find $SOURCE/* -type f -mtime -1 `

in the code above i need to count the number of file A has (it should be 6) .if the number macthes i would copy else i would exit. i thought of usnig some thing like if count =6 then copy kind of thing. Any ideas would be appericated

Try assigning an array and then testing its element count:

Code:

$ A=( $(ls) )
$ echo "${#A[*]}"
16

RudiC, I think that approach will cause discrepancies in count if there are file names with blank space. Isn't that right?

Hi i tried this,but didnt work

Code:

#!/bin/bash
A=`find /path/to/files/* -type f -mtime -1 `
if [ "${#A[*]}" -eq 6 ]
then
something here
fi

Yes, filenames with spaces will cause trouble. Try this:

Code:

$ IFS=$'\n' A=( $(ls -1) )
$ echo ${#A[*]}
13

It can't, because you didn't do what I proposed. You did not assign an array.

Hi Rudic ,

Code:

#!/bin/bash
A=`find /path/to/files/* -type f -mtime -15 `
IFS=$'\n' A=( $(ls -1) )
echo ${#A[*]}

it returned 63 ,i am not sure for what that value is for

Try assigning to an array (but take care of spaces in filenames!):

Code:

A=( $(find /path/to/files/* -type f -mtime -15) )