ls -t arg list too long

UNIX for Beginners Q & A UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
1

echo dirname/filename* | xargs ls -t
As a substitute doesn't give the results desired when I exceed the buffer size. I still want the files listed in chronological order, unfortunately xargs releases the names piecemeal...does anyone have any ideas? :frowning:

2

I have difficulty understanding the question. But,

ls -ltr scripts | tr -s " " | awk -F" " '{ print $9 }'

or

ls -lt scripts | tr -s " " | awk -F" " '{ print $9 }'

may be solution you want ...

3

Maybe try..

ls -t dirname | grep filename

4

Or maybe...

find /some/dirname/ -prune -name "filename*" -print | xargs ls -1t

Due to the way xargs behaves this is all very dependent on exactly how many files find returns...

Cheers
ZB

5

... since the OP is stating that "ls -t" is complaining of "arg list too long" and that xargs output not sufficient --- other command line combinations that uses the same commands will most likely fail as the OP may have way too many files to list ...

here's something that might help start it --- you'll have to figure out the correct sort options as my brain is currently full ...

#! /bin/ksh

for file in *
do
    ls -l $file
done > /tmp/$$

sort [options] /tmp/$$ | awk '{print $NF}'  | more

rm /tmp/$$

exit 0