UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I need to routinely cp a file out of the highest incremented folder named PROD_2_6.1_xxx where xxx (3 numerical values) is incremented only once a night starting at 100 and ending 999 over a period of time. I am not worried about copying a subset of a complete file while it is being created by some other process.

example:

Code:

/nightly/PROD_2_6.1_110/filename.txt 
/nightly/PROD_2_6.1_111/filename.txt
/nightly/PROD_2_6.1_112/filename.txt

I have only the most rudimentary understanding of how to copy and no practical experience despite searching for an answer. All I have managed to pull together is:

Code:

 cp -r /nightly/2.6.1/PROD_2_6.1_  ?????

Any help is appreciated :b Thanks everyone!

Please use code tags as required by forum rules!

Any attempts from your side?

In addition to showing us what you have tried (as requested by RudiC), please also give us more information about your directory names. Is x in PROD_2_6.1_x always three digits? What range of x values does your script need to be able to process?

What do you mean by the "latest file" in a directory? (Modified most recently? Last filename in an alphabetic list of filenames? Something else?) How do you know you won't be copying a subset of a complete file while it is being created by some other process?

updated post as requested. I hope that is enough info for your consideration. Thanks

The command:

Code:

ls -d /nightly/PROD_2_6.1_???

will give you a list of the directories you're interested in in increasing alphabetic order. Since all of the numbers at the end of these directory names contain 3 digits, this will also be in increasing numeric order. Adding the -r option to ls will give you the list in reverse order. Piping the output of ls through the command:
head -n 1 will give you just the first line, which will be the directory that you want. You can use save that directory name in a variable using command substitution and variable assignment:

Code:

last_dir=$(ls -rd /nightly/PROD_2_6.1_??? | head -n 1)

To copy a file named filename.txt from that directory to another directory (in this example, named /target/directory), you can then use:

Code:

cp "$last_dir/filename.txt" "/target/directory/filename.txt"
                      or
cp "$last_dir/filename.txt" "/target/directory/"

You can change the name of the file in the target directory using the first form above; the second form will copy the source file to the target directory using the same name as the final component of the source file pathname as the filename of the copy in the target directory.

Hope this helps...

Thanks Don, appreciate your patience. This is perfect.