Re: [CentOS] find most recent file update in directory

On Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 10:09:27AM -0500, Windsor Dave L. (AdP/TEF7.1) wrote:

I like:

find . -type f -printf '%TY/%Tm/%Td %TH:%TM:%TS %p\n' | sort -n | tail -1

which shows the last access date/time in a human-readable format that also sorts nicely (YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS).

Note that some distros include fractional values with the seconds (%TS), making it even more accurate. My CentOS 5.7 server does not, my Kubuntu 11.10 desktop does.

I considered that as well, but as you point out it will not properly order files due to lack of second resolution. One can stick an "-ls" on find to get human-readable timestamps on the returned file list if necessary.

John