How to recursively find and list the latest modified files in a directory with subdirectories and times?

Question

- Operating system: Linux - Filesystem type: ext3 - Preferred solution: bash (script/oneliner), ruby, python I have several directories with several subdirectories and files in them. I need to make a list of all these directories that is constructed in a way such that every first-level directory is listed next to the date and time of the latest created/modified file within it. To clarify, if I touch a file or modify its contents a few subdirectory levels down, that timestamp should be displayed next to the first-level directory name. Say I have a directory structured like this: ./alfa/beta/gamma/example.txt and I modify the contents of the file `example.txt`, I need that time displayed next to the first-level directory `alfa` in human readable form, not epoch. I've tried some things using find, `xargs`, `sort` and the likes but I can't get around the problem that the filesystem timestamp of 'alfa' doesn't change when I create/modify files a few levels down.

Answer 1

Here's one way - is this what you would want to see?

ls -ldt $(find . -print )

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 14 06:17 ./Week5

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 127 Jun 14 06:17 ./Week5/special

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 210 Jun 9 22:41 ./Week5/numAnal.py

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 9 22:36 .

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 9 22:36 ./Week9

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 9 22:36 ./Week8

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 9 22:36 ./Week7

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 9 22:36 ./Week6

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 9 22:35 ./Week4

-rwxr-xr-x+ 1 lji None 1018 Jun 8 11:13 ./Week4/myargs.sh

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 8 10:50 ./Week4/__pycache__

-rwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 434 Jun 8 10:50 ./Week4/__pycache__/myargs.cpython-37.pyc

-rwxr-xr-x+ 1 lji None 1168 Jun 8 10:44 ./Week4/myargs.py

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 98 Jun 8 10:37 ./Week4/argsTester.sh

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 8 10:37 ./Week3

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 98 Jun 8 10:26 ./Week4/argsTester.py

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 1061 Jun 2 12:53 ./Week3/myargs.py

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 587 Jun 1 21:08 ./Week3/dict.py

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 815 Jun 1 21:00 ./Week3/args.py

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 129 Jun 1 09:41 ./Week3/simple.bash

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 Jun 1 09:06 ./Week2

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 66 May 27 12:12 ./Week2/tester

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 625 May 25 11:34 ./Week2/dict.py

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 1210 May 25 11:26 ./Week2/collections.py

drwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 0 May 25 09:19 ./Week1

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 0 May 25 09:10 ./Week2/3

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 0 May 25 09:10 ./Week2/2

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 0 May 25 09:10 ./Week2/1

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 1 May 22 22:09 ./Week1/file

-rwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 148486 May 21 08:03 ./Week1/nothing.exe

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 29 May 21 08:03 ./Week1/nothing.c

-rwxrwxr-x+ 1 lji None 148540 May 21 08:02 ./Week1/hw.exe

-rw-rw-r--+ 1 lji None 266 May 21 08:02 ./Week1/hw.c

-rwxr-xr-x+ 1 lji None 42 May 18 10:32 ./Week1/hello