Very Computer

> Hello,

> I am writing a script file that uses the following find command line:

> find ${DPATH} -name 'log????.21' -mtime 1|tr "\n" " "|read CURLOG PRELOG

> This will find two files that have been modified in the last 24hrs.

> My question is, in what order will it list those two files?

> I am assuming that it will report the most recently modified file last.

> In other words, say the 1st file is closed at 3:00 and the 2nd file is
> closed at 5:00.  It should then list the files in that order - 1st, 2nd.

> While testing this, I could swear that our development system listed
> them the other way around.  When I ran the script on our production
> box, it was just opposite (both are AIX 4.2.1).

> I can't find and documentation that clears this up.

> Nope. It will list the files in the order that it happens to
> come across them as it traverses the directory tree. The
> sequence by which find visits files is based on a simple
> unsorted iteration through each of the directory entries of each
> directory in the tree. Within a directory the ordering is
> officially indeterminate, though most filesystem implementations
> will use an algorithm along the following lines: a new filename
> is added to the first available space within the on-disk
> directory structure; if no deletes or renames ever happen in a
> particular directory then all of its directory entries will be
> in creation-time order, but if a delete happens a hole will be
> created which the next file creation will fill that hole without
> any regard for any kind of sort ordering.

> You didn't state what shell you are using, but because you are
> reading variables at the end of a pipeline I'll assume you're
> using ksh. Try this:
> find ${DPATH} -name 'log????.21' -mtime 1 | { read CURLOG; read PRELOG; }
> [[ $CURLOG -nt $PRELOG ]] || { tmp=$CURLOG; CURLOG=$PRELOG; PRELOG=$tmp; }

> --Ken Pizzini

>ls -1t `find ${DPATH} -name "log????.21" -mtime 1` | { read CURLOG;
>read PRELOG; }