Piping grep and ls

[robert_garcia718]

Hello, folks. I was hoping I could get some help because I am completely stumped! I have tried different combinations and have not been able to figure it out. The question is:

Use ls -l and grep to find all the files in the directory /etc that were last modified in March.

I have tried a few of the following:

1. ls -l /etc | grep "Mar"
2. ls -l -f /etc | grep "Mar"
3. grep -l "Mar" /etc | ls -l
4. ls -latr /etc | grep "Mar"
5. ls -fl /etc | grep "Mar"

And so on, ad nauseam. I do not get the results I am looking for, and I cannot figure it out. I would appreciate a nudge in the right direction. Thanks.

 

[jglen490]

Works here:

ls -l
total 11526784
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john 1193279488 Feb 21 23:50  antiX-19.1_386-full.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john  341835776 Nov  4 20:20  gparted-live-1.0.0-5-i686-pae.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john 1955266560 Jul 28  2019  kubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-i386.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john 1729101824 Jan 18  2018  linuxmint-18.2-mate-32bit.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john 1970274304 Nov 11  2018  linuxmint-19-mate-32bit.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john        774 Jan 16  2018 'Mint 18.2 SHA 256.txt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john 1412431872 Jan  1  2019  Peppermint-9-20181222-i386.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john  454033408 Sep 28  2019  q4os-3.8-i386-instcd.r5.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john  704643072 Sep  5  2017  rescatux-0.41b1.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john   20404224 Sep  5  2017  super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s9.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john 2022113280 Nov  3  2018  ubuntu-mate-18.04.1-desktop-i386.iso

s -l|grep Feb
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john 1193279488 Feb 21 23:50 antiX-19.1_386-full.iso

ls -l|grep Sep
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john  454033408 Sep 28  2019 q4os-3.8-i386-instcd.r5.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john  704643072 Sep  5  2017 rescatux-0.41b1.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john   20404224 Sep  5  2017 super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s9.iso

ls -l|grep "Sep"
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john  454033408 Sep 28  2019 q4os-3.8-i386-instcd.r5.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john  704643072 Sep  5  2017 rescatux-0.41b1.iso
-rw-rw-r-- 1 john john   20404224 Sep  5  2017 super_grub2_disk_hybrid_2.02s9.iso

What's your distro?

 

[robert_garcia718]

Linux Centos 7. I got it, John, thanks. It wasn't working because I had Mar wrapped in quotation marks. Once I removed them, I was able to get it.

 

[jglen490]

It should have worked either way, as shown in the last two outputs from my Kubuntu, but glad it's working for you now!

 

[robert_garcia718]

The next question is stumping me as well. I can't seem to sort the results properly. The question is:

Question 10: ls grep and sort
Use ls -l and grep and sort to find all the files in /etc that were last modified in Jun. Sort this list in descending order of size and then alphabetically by name (so 2 files with the same size will appear in alphabetic order). Send the output to s7. Sorting using other techniques will probably not get the same answer...

Tests: Complete
Jun files in order FAILED


I typed this:

ls -l /etc | grep Jun | sort -k4 -k8 > s7


And got this:

[demo@host-2-65 ~]$ ls -l /etc | grep Jun | sort -k4 -k8
-rw-r-----. 1 root named 931 Jun 21 2007 named.rfc1912.zones
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jun 10 2014 wvdial.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jun 7 2013 exports
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jun 7 2013 motd
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1362 Jun 10 2014 pbm2ppa.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1518 Jun 7 2013 aliases
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 158 Jun 7 2013 hosts
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1787 Jun 10 2014 request-key.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 20 Jun 24 2014 fprintd.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 233 Jun 7 2013 printcap
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2620 Jun 10 2014 mtools.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2872 Jun 10 2014 pinforc
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 370 Jun 7 2013 hosts.allow
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 451 Jun 9 2014 crontab
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 460 Jun 7 2013 hosts.deny
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 4760 Jun 9 2014 enscript.cfg
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 5171 Jun 9 2014 man_db.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 6300 Jun 10 2014 pnm2ppa.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 6545 Jun 7 2013 protocols
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 670293 Jun 7 2013 services
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jun 10 2014 popt.d
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jun 11 2014 terminfo
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jun 9 2014 cron.monthly
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 6 Jun 9 2014 cron.weekly
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 841 Jun 7 2013 csh.login
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 8892 Jun 10 2014 nanorc
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 942 Jun 7 2013 inputrc
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 9 Jun 7 2013 host.conf


No go.

 

[jglen490]

Try sending the output of grep into sort:

ls -l /etc | grep Jun > sort -k4 -k8

It's been a (LOOOOOONG) while since I dabbled in scripting stuff like that. But, what heck ....

 

[robert_garcia718]

Right, but are the columns right? The columns I am asking to be sorted are not being sorted at all. Also, I have to send the output of the sort to a file labeled s7, can I send output twice?

 

[jglen490]

I've never done much scripting, but have you tried it? It's not like you're going start thermonuclear war

 

[jglen490]

In looking at man, have you tried using the --keydef=4,8 instead? It appears, from your output, to be sorting on the -k4, but ignoring the -k8.