5 ms·

Managing Work-In-Progress Folders with “ls -ltr”

48 points by sefk 14y ago

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
nickknw 14y ago
Interesting timing on this; I just starting using almost this exact command (`ls -1tr`) days ago. Great for checking the last few things in that giant `Downloads/` folder
- webreac 14y ago
  ls -lrt is probably the command I use the most in Unix since ... 20 years.
phireal 14y ago
Combine watch with ls -ltr and you have a neat little way to keep an eye on a given file or directory: watch -n 1 ls -ltr
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
robertskmiles 14y ago
I do basically the same thing. In fact I have 'ls -cr' automatically run after every cd. The problem with aliases of course is that you end up typing them on other people's systems and looking foolish. Still, I use 'lcr' for 'ls -cr', 'll' for 'ls -alF', etc.
- stinos 14y ago
  I even have 'l' as 'ls -halF'. And it's used so much that the L button on my keyboard seems to grow more fungi than the others.
pif 14y ago
Why not recursive? Use the following command if you want to have one directory per idea, rather than a single file: find -type f -print0 | xargs --null ls -ltr
- q_revert 14y ago
  I know it gets talked about quite a lot round here but I find zsh really quite useful for this type of thing.. the zsh equivalent of the above, for me would be ls **/* -ltr (Edit)[ for an exact reproduction ] ls **/*(.) -ltr if you wanted to put a date range on it.. for example, only files from the last 5 days.. ls **/*(m-5) -ltr or the last 5 hours ls **/*(mh-5) -ltr there's loads more of these http://grml.org/zsh/zsh-lovers.html http://grml.org/zsh/zsh-lovers.html, obviously your shell is a matter of preference, and if you know bash or something similar well enough then the incentive to change is obviously lessened.. but personally I've found that a whole series of small improvements (for me) added up to a pretty large win edit: as pointed out by pyre, my initial suggestion isn't an exact replica.. but was the first thing that came to mind for me.. i guess s/the\ zsh\ equivalent/something\ similar\ in\ zsh/ edit again: /tmp/ $ mkdir -p /tmp/test1/test2/test3 /tmp/ $ touch /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4 /tmp/ $ ls -ltr /tmp/test1/**/*(.) -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 Aug 7 15:49 /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4 /tmp/ $ find /tmp/test1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 ls -ltr -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 Aug 7 15:49 /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4
  - pyre 14y ago
    **/* does not match the '-type f' part of his filter: $ mkdir -p /tmp/test1/test2/test3 $ touch /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4 $ ls -ltr /tmp/test1/**/* -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 2012-08-07 09:59 /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4 /tmp/test1/test2: total 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 usr grp 4096 2012-08-07 09:59 test3 /tmp/test1/test2/test3: total 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 2012-08-07 09:59 test4 On the other hand: $ find /tmp/test1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 ls -ltr -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 2012-08-07 09:59 /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4
  - pif 14y ago
    Nice to know, thanks! But, how does it work with file names containing spaces (or other strange characters)? Edit: just to clarify: my question concerns the zsh method. Regarding find+xargs, I wrote that comment :-) Actually, this edit would be an answer to zap; HN does not let me reply directly to him: is it to prevent flame-wars?
rwmj 14y ago
Like the author, I probably use 'ls -ltr' more often than any other variation of ls. It's more useful to view most directories in date order (newest nearest to your cursor), although of course this probably won't be news to most GUI / Windows users. Edit: A small shell script over my history proves my guess is correct: plain ls: 59 ls -ltr: 8 ll: 6
tyler_ball 14y ago
This is _exactly_ what version control is for.
- pyre 14y ago
  Listing files in order of modification time?
  - tyler_ball 14y ago
    Not literally. I should clarify. Using ls -ltr will indeed list files in order of modification time, but when I read 'Managing Work-In-Progress Folders' I think version control. ls will list your files, but it won't really 'manage' anything.
BoppreH 14y ago
Funny, I've come to use the same system some time ago, but for general to-dos. I just use more readable filenames, with spaces instead of dashes and more complete sentences, and in the file content I put more detailed info and links do resources. The great thing about this is that it's utterly portable. You can sync with Dropbox, explore with a file manager, zip and send by email, grep, open and edit with scripts... The possibilities are endless, and you don't have to install anything.
kragen 14y ago
I always use ls -lart. It's handy for a lot of different things. What's the name of that file I just downloaded? Which subdirectory of my home directory is the one where that program saves its config information? What have I been working on in the last month?
figital 14y ago
Hey can someone write me a script that will draw a bar chart of the frequency by date/month/year of each file's last modification time (in a directory)? Free beer. I promise!
Adrock 14y ago
I use it frequently enough that I've aliased "lt" to it. Any other flags people use with it?

48 points by sefk 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

Interesting timing on this; I just starting using almost this exact command (`ls -1tr`) days ago. Great for checking the last few things in that giant `Downloads/` folder

webreac 14y ago
ls -lrt is probably the command I use the most in Unix since ... 20 years.

phireal 14y ago

Combine watch with ls -ltr and you have a neat little way to keep an eye on a given file or directory: watch -n 1 ls -ltr

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

robertskmiles 14y ago

I do basically the same thing. In fact I have 'ls -cr' automatically run after every cd. The problem with aliases of course is that you end up typing them on other people's systems and looking foolish. Still, I use 'lcr' for 'ls -cr', 'll' for 'ls -alF', etc.

stinos 14y ago
I even have 'l' as 'ls -halF'. And it's used so much that the L button on my keyboard seems to grow more fungi than the others.

pif 14y ago

Why not recursive? Use the following command if you want to have one directory per idea, rather than a single file: find -type f -print0 | xargs --null ls -ltr

q_revert 14y ago
I know it gets talked about quite a lot round here but I find zsh really quite useful for this type of thing.. the zsh equivalent of the above, for me would be ls **/* -ltr (Edit)[ for an exact reproduction ] ls **/*(.) -ltr if you wanted to put a date range on it.. for example, only files from the last 5 days.. ls **/*(m-5) -ltr or the last 5 hours ls **/*(mh-5) -ltr there's loads more of these http://grml.org/zsh/zsh-lovers.html http://grml.org/zsh/zsh-lovers.html, obviously your shell is a matter of preference, and if you know bash or something similar well enough then the incentive to change is obviously lessened.. but personally I've found that a whole series of small improvements (for me) added up to a pretty large win edit: as pointed out by pyre, my initial suggestion isn't an exact replica.. but was the first thing that came to mind for me.. i guess s/the\ zsh\ equivalent/something\ similar\ in\ zsh/ edit again: /tmp/ $ mkdir -p /tmp/test1/test2/test3 /tmp/ $ touch /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4 /tmp/ $ ls -ltr /tmp/test1/**/*(.) -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 Aug 7 15:49 /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4 /tmp/ $ find /tmp/test1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 ls -ltr -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 Aug 7 15:49 /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4
- pyre 14y ago
  **/* does not match the '-type f' part of his filter: $ mkdir -p /tmp/test1/test2/test3 $ touch /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4 $ ls -ltr /tmp/test1/**/* -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 2012-08-07 09:59 /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4 /tmp/test1/test2: total 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 usr grp 4096 2012-08-07 09:59 test3 /tmp/test1/test2/test3: total 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 2012-08-07 09:59 test4 On the other hand: $ find /tmp/test1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 ls -ltr -rw-r--r-- 1 usr grp 0 2012-08-07 09:59 /tmp/test1/test2/test3/test4
- pif 14y ago
  Nice to know, thanks! But, how does it work with file names containing spaces (or other strange characters)? Edit: just to clarify: my question concerns the zsh method. Regarding find+xargs, I wrote that comment :-) Actually, this edit would be an answer to zap; HN does not let me reply directly to him: is it to prevent flame-wars?

rwmj 14y ago

Like the author, I probably use 'ls -ltr' more often than any other variation of ls. It's more useful to view most directories in date order (newest nearest to your cursor), although of course this probably won't be news to most GUI / Windows users. Edit: A small shell script over my history proves my guess is correct: plain ls: 59 ls -ltr: 8 ll: 6

tyler_ball 14y ago

This is _exactly_ what version control is for.

pyre 14y ago
Listing files in order of modification time?
- tyler_ball 14y ago
  Not literally. I should clarify. Using ls -ltr will indeed list files in order of modification time, but when I read 'Managing Work-In-Progress Folders' I think version control. ls will list your files, but it won't really 'manage' anything.

BoppreH 14y ago

Funny, I've come to use the same system some time ago, but for general to-dos. I just use more readable filenames, with spaces instead of dashes and more complete sentences, and in the file content I put more detailed info and links do resources. The great thing about this is that it's utterly portable. You can sync with Dropbox, explore with a file manager, zip and send by email, grep, open and edit with scripts... The possibilities are endless, and you don't have to install anything.

kragen 14y ago

I always use ls -lart. It's handy for a lot of different things. What's the name of that file I just downloaded? Which subdirectory of my home directory is the one where that program saves its config information? What have I been working on in the last month?

figital 14y ago

Hey can someone write me a script that will draw a bar chart of the frequency by date/month/year of each file's last modification time (in a directory)? Free beer. I promise!

Adrock 14y ago

I use it frequently enough that I've aliased "lt" to it. Any other flags people use with it?