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How can I list files in reverse time order by a command and pass them as arguments to another command?

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}

1

1

I have a program which takes in some files as arguments in one command line. I would like to invoke it with all the files in a directory listed in reverse time order.

For example:

I have following files in reverse time order in a directory

$ ls -tr

 Introduction.pdf  'Object-Oriented Data Model.pdf' 

I can run my program straightforward,

myprogram Introduction.pdf  'Object-Oriented Data Model.pdf' 

but I want to do the file listing by another command. This won't work because of the space in one file's name:

myprogram $(ls -tr)

I remember parsing ls output is not a good practice. I am not sure if find can help.

What can I do then?

Thanks.

bash

share|improve this question

edited 4 hours ago

Tim

asked 5 hours ago

TimTim

28.9k79270495

add a comment | 

1

1

I have a program which takes in some files as arguments in one command line. I would like to invoke it with all the files in a directory listed in reverse time order.

For example:

I have following files in reverse time order in a directory

$ ls -tr

 Introduction.pdf  'Object-Oriented Data Model.pdf' 

I can run my program straightforward,

myprogram Introduction.pdf  'Object-Oriented Data Model.pdf' 

but I want to do the file listing by another command. This won't work because of the space in one file's name:

myprogram $(ls -tr)

I remember parsing ls output is not a good practice. I am not sure if find can help.

What can I do then?

Thanks.

bash

share|improve this question

edited 4 hours ago

Tim

asked 5 hours ago

TimTim

28.9k79270495

add a comment | 

I have a program which takes in some files as arguments in one command line. I would like to invoke it with all the files in a directory listed in reverse time order.

For example:

I have following files in reverse time order in a directory

$ ls -tr

 Introduction.pdf  'Object-Oriented Data Model.pdf' 

I can run my program straightforward,

myprogram Introduction.pdf  'Object-Oriented Data Model.pdf' 

but I want to do the file listing by another command. This won't work because of the space in one file's name:

myprogram $(ls -tr)

I remember parsing ls output is not a good practice. I am not sure if find can help.

What can I do then?

Thanks.

bash

share|improve this question

edited 4 hours ago

Tim

asked 5 hours ago

TimTim

28.9k79270495

$ ls -tr

 Introduction.pdf  'Object-Oriented Data Model.pdf' 

myprogram Introduction.pdf  'Object-Oriented Data Model.pdf' 

myprogram $(ls -tr)

share|improve this question

edited 4 hours ago

Tim

asked 5 hours ago

TimTim

28.9k79270495

share|improve this question

edited 4 hours ago

Tim

asked 5 hours ago

TimTim

28.9k79270495

asked 5 hours ago

TimTim

28.9k79270495

asked 5 hours ago

TimTim

28.9k79270495

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

2

If you've got reasonably up-to-date versions of the GNU utilities you can have them handle NULL-terminated data. This allows one to construct pipelines that are not affected by whitespace or newlines in the data itself.

My test tool is a quick script called /tmp/args:

#!/bin/bash

echo "This is args with $# value(s)"

for f in "$@"; do echo "> $f <"; done

This is how you can feed it a series of filenames on the command line, sorted by file time last modified:

find -type f -printf "%T@ %p" | sort -z | sed -z 's/^[0-9.]* //' | xargs -0 /tmp/args

The find command prefixes each file/path name with a representation in fractional seconds of the date/time last modified. This is handled by sort to order from lowest (oldest) to highest (newest). The sed strips off the leading number we've just used to sort by, and the resulting set of filenames are passed to xargs. Replace the %p with %P if you prefer to omit the leading ./ from filenames.

Example data

# "c d" contains a space; "e f" contains a newline; "h" has leading whitespace

touch a 'e

f' g ' h ' 'c d' b

Example result

This is args with 6 value(s)

> ./a <

> ./e

f <

> ./g <

> ./ h  <

> ./c d <

> ./b <

share|improve this answer

answered 4 hours ago

roaimaroaima

46.4k758124

add a comment | 

1

(IFS=$'n'; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

Assuming that the filenames don't contain newlines.

Example:

% touch 'a   b'

% touch 'c d'

% touch '*'

% (IFS=$'n'; set -f; printf '%sn' $(ls -tr))

e    f

a   b

c d

*

Variant for a standard shell which doesn't support $'...' strings:

(IFS='

' ; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

---

Simple python wrapper which will work even with filenames containing newlines. Usage can be this_wrapper your_program *.

#! /usr/bin/python

import os

import sys



sys.argv[2:] = sorted(sys.argv[2:], key=os.path.getmtime)

os.execvp(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[1:])

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

Uncle BillyUncle Billy

9658

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks. What if the filenames contains newlines
  
  – Tim
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Then this won't work ;-) -- and you'll have to use something like perl or python.
  
  – Uncle Billy
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks. How will you use Python?
  
  – Tim
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I'm no python programmer, but since nobody steps in .... YMMV, that may not be the state of the art ;-)
  
  – Uncle Billy
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Freddy Rarely. But everything is possible.
  
  – Tim
  4 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

Your Answer

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2

If you've got reasonably up-to-date versions of the GNU utilities you can have them handle NULL-terminated data. This allows one to construct pipelines that are not affected by whitespace or newlines in the data itself.

My test tool is a quick script called /tmp/args:

#!/bin/bash

echo "This is args with $# value(s)"

for f in "$@"; do echo "> $f <"; done

This is how you can feed it a series of filenames on the command line, sorted by file time last modified:

find -type f -printf "%T@ %p" | sort -z | sed -z 's/^[0-9.]* //' | xargs -0 /tmp/args

The find command prefixes each file/path name with a representation in fractional seconds of the date/time last modified. This is handled by sort to order from lowest (oldest) to highest (newest). The sed strips off the leading number we've just used to sort by, and the resulting set of filenames are passed to xargs. Replace the %p with %P if you prefer to omit the leading ./ from filenames.

Example data

# "c d" contains a space; "e f" contains a newline; "h" has leading whitespace

touch a 'e

f' g ' h ' 'c d' b

Example result

This is args with 6 value(s)

> ./a <

> ./e

f <

> ./g <

> ./ h  <

> ./c d <

> ./b <

share|improve this answer

answered 4 hours ago

roaimaroaima

46.4k758124

add a comment | 

2

If you've got reasonably up-to-date versions of the GNU utilities you can have them handle NULL-terminated data. This allows one to construct pipelines that are not affected by whitespace or newlines in the data itself.

My test tool is a quick script called /tmp/args:

#!/bin/bash

echo "This is args with $# value(s)"

for f in "$@"; do echo "> $f <"; done

This is how you can feed it a series of filenames on the command line, sorted by file time last modified:

find -type f -printf "%T@ %p" | sort -z | sed -z 's/^[0-9.]* //' | xargs -0 /tmp/args

The find command prefixes each file/path name with a representation in fractional seconds of the date/time last modified. This is handled by sort to order from lowest (oldest) to highest (newest). The sed strips off the leading number we've just used to sort by, and the resulting set of filenames are passed to xargs. Replace the %p with %P if you prefer to omit the leading ./ from filenames.

Example data

# "c d" contains a space; "e f" contains a newline; "h" has leading whitespace

touch a 'e

f' g ' h ' 'c d' b

Example result

This is args with 6 value(s)

> ./a <

> ./e

f <

> ./g <

> ./ h  <

> ./c d <

> ./b <

share|improve this answer

answered 4 hours ago

roaimaroaima

46.4k758124

add a comment | 

If you've got reasonably up-to-date versions of the GNU utilities you can have them handle NULL-terminated data. This allows one to construct pipelines that are not affected by whitespace or newlines in the data itself.

My test tool is a quick script called /tmp/args:

#!/bin/bash

echo "This is args with $# value(s)"

for f in "$@"; do echo "> $f <"; done

This is how you can feed it a series of filenames on the command line, sorted by file time last modified:

find -type f -printf "%T@ %p" | sort -z | sed -z 's/^[0-9.]* //' | xargs -0 /tmp/args

The find command prefixes each file/path name with a representation in fractional seconds of the date/time last modified. This is handled by sort to order from lowest (oldest) to highest (newest). The sed strips off the leading number we've just used to sort by, and the resulting set of filenames are passed to xargs. Replace the %p with %P if you prefer to omit the leading ./ from filenames.

Example data

# "c d" contains a space; "e f" contains a newline; "h" has leading whitespace

touch a 'e

f' g ' h ' 'c d' b

Example result

This is args with 6 value(s)

> ./a <

> ./e

f <

> ./g <

> ./ h  <

> ./c d <

> ./b <

share|improve this answer

answered 4 hours ago

roaimaroaima

46.4k758124

#!/bin/bash

echo "This is args with $# value(s)"

for f in "$@"; do echo "> $f <"; done

find -type f -printf "%T@ %p" | sort -z | sed -z 's/^[0-9.]* //' | xargs -0 /tmp/args

# "c d" contains a space; "e f" contains a newline; "h" has leading whitespace

touch a 'e

f' g ' h ' 'c d' b

This is args with 6 value(s)

> ./a <

> ./e

f <

> ./g <

> ./ h  <

> ./c d <

> ./b <

share|improve this answer

answered 4 hours ago

roaimaroaima

46.4k758124

answered 4 hours ago

roaimaroaima

46.4k758124

answered 4 hours ago

roaimaroaima

46.4k758124

1

(IFS=$'n'; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

Assuming that the filenames don't contain newlines.

Example:

% touch 'a   b'

% touch 'c d'

% touch '*'

% (IFS=$'n'; set -f; printf '%sn' $(ls -tr))

e    f

a   b

c d

*

Variant for a standard shell which doesn't support $'...' strings:

(IFS='

' ; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

---

Simple python wrapper which will work even with filenames containing newlines. Usage can be this_wrapper your_program *.

#! /usr/bin/python

import os

import sys



sys.argv[2:] = sorted(sys.argv[2:], key=os.path.getmtime)

os.execvp(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[1:])

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

Uncle BillyUncle Billy

9658

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks. What if the filenames contains newlines
  
  – Tim
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Then this won't work ;-) -- and you'll have to use something like perl or python.
  
  – Uncle Billy
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks. How will you use Python?
  
  – Tim
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I'm no python programmer, but since nobody steps in .... YMMV, that may not be the state of the art ;-)
  
  – Uncle Billy
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Freddy Rarely. But everything is possible.
  
  – Tim
  4 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

1

(IFS=$'n'; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

Assuming that the filenames don't contain newlines.

Example:

% touch 'a   b'

% touch 'c d'

% touch '*'

% (IFS=$'n'; set -f; printf '%sn' $(ls -tr))

e    f

a   b

c d

*

Variant for a standard shell which doesn't support $'...' strings:

(IFS='

' ; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

---

Simple python wrapper which will work even with filenames containing newlines. Usage can be this_wrapper your_program *.

#! /usr/bin/python

import os

import sys



sys.argv[2:] = sorted(sys.argv[2:], key=os.path.getmtime)

os.execvp(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[1:])

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

Uncle BillyUncle Billy

9658

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks. What if the filenames contains newlines
  
  – Tim
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Then this won't work ;-) -- and you'll have to use something like perl or python.
  
  – Uncle Billy
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Thanks. How will you use Python?
  
  – Tim
  5 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I'm no python programmer, but since nobody steps in .... YMMV, that may not be the state of the art ;-)
  
  – Uncle Billy
  4 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Freddy Rarely. But everything is possible.
  
  – Tim
  4 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

(IFS=$'n'; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

Assuming that the filenames don't contain newlines.

Example:

% touch 'a   b'

% touch 'c d'

% touch '*'

% (IFS=$'n'; set -f; printf '%sn' $(ls -tr))

e    f

a   b

c d

*

Variant for a standard shell which doesn't support $'...' strings:

(IFS='

' ; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

---

Simple python wrapper which will work even with filenames containing newlines. Usage can be this_wrapper your_program *.

#! /usr/bin/python

import os

import sys



sys.argv[2:] = sorted(sys.argv[2:], key=os.path.getmtime)

os.execvp(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[1:])

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

Uncle BillyUncle Billy

9658

(IFS=$'n'; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

% touch 'a   b'

% touch 'c d'

% touch '*'

% (IFS=$'n'; set -f; printf '%sn' $(ls -tr))

e    f

a   b

c d

*

(IFS='

' ; set -f; your_program $(ls -tr))

#! /usr/bin/python

import os

import sys



sys.argv[2:] = sorted(sys.argv[2:], key=os.path.getmtime)

os.execvp(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[1:])

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 5 hours ago

Uncle BillyUncle Billy

9658

answered 5 hours ago

Uncle BillyUncle Billy

9658

answered 5 hours ago

Uncle BillyUncle Billy

9658