Re: -M

in reply to Re: del files that is 7 days or older
in thread del files that is 7 days or older

I'm curious as to how the -M operator works. Since Unix doesn't keep track of file creation dates, does -M check for the last modified? So in the example above would the given file be deleted if it wasn't modified in the last 7 days? I'm also assuming that one could use the -M to test directories as well. Is this true? :]

Comment on Re: -M

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: -M by ariels (Curate) on Jun 30, 2002 at 06:52 UTC
Take a look at stat. All the `-`-something operators are just frontends for this function. UN*X keeps track of last access, last modification, and last inode change (often confused with creation time). -M looks at the `mtime` (modification time), and subtracts `$^T` (see perlvar). A better choice might be -C, which looks at `ctime` (inode change time). Still, that too just looks at the last time you changed something about the file "metadata": creation, permissions, and the like.	[reply] [d/l] [select]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.

Re: Re: -M
by ariels (Curate) on Jun 30, 2002 at 06:52 UTC

stat

-

-M looks at the mtime (modification time), and subtracts $^T (see perlvar). A better choice might be -C, which looks at ctime (inode change time). Still, that too just looks at the last time you changed something about the file "metadata": creation, permissions, and the like.

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom