Copying only newer files 2

[Einstein47]

I have two directories. One directory has files from one souce, and the other has "living" files that have been "underdevelopment". I need to move all the "living" files that are newer into the source directory. I don't want to move any files that don't exist in the source directory, nor do I want to move any files that are older than the source directory.

Any help would be appreciated - even just a point in the right direction.

Thanks, Einstein47
(How come we never see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery"?)

 

[grega]

Perhaps something like ...

for fname in $(ls sourcedir)
do
  if [ devdir/$fname -nt sourcedir/$fname ]
  then
     cp devdir/$fname sourcedir/$fname
  fi
done

The -nt condition is satisfied if file1 exists and is newer than file2. Look at the man page for test for a full list of testable conditions. I find it one of the very useful man pages

Greg.

 

[Einstein47]

Thanks I will - I use the -f, -s, and -z conditions a lot for files, but I have never used -n or -t

You livesafer you. Einstein47
(How come we never see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery"?)

 

[RobJordan]

You can use

if -a filename
then
[do some action here]
fi

to see if a file exists

You can use the diff command to see
if files are different.
Something like.
VALUE=`diff -s file1 file2`
if [ ${#VALUE} -gt 0 ]
then
echo "files are different"
fi

I can't think of a command that tells if one file
is newer than another. (doesn't mean that there isn't one)
I know ftp has this option. newer as opposed to get.

You may have to have a script to convert the files date/time stamp format for comparison.

Robert
Robert G. Jordan
Unix Sys Admin
Sleepy Hollow, Illinois U.S.A.

http://www.InYourMind.com

FREE Unix Scripts

 

[Einstein47]

I tried the script idea and that failed miserably - grega's code worked like a charm. It was exactly what I wanted.

Funny that the test command would have that much power. I'm glad it does. Einstein47
(How come we never see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery"?)