Linux – How to find files that are not modified in the last five months

This is for an Excel worksheet. Data is entered or modified in column A. The macro automatically enters the date/time in column B. The macro then sorts column A & B by column B, putting the most recent at the top.

Enter the following event macro in the worksheet code area:

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
    Dim A As Range
    Dim AB As Range
    Set A = Range("A:A")
    Set AB = Range("A:B")

    If Intersect(Target, A) Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    If Target.Count > 1 Then Exit Sub
    Application.EnableEvents = False
        Target.Offset(0, 1) = Now
        AB.Sort Key1:=Range("B1"), Order1:=xlDescending, Header:=xlNo, _
            OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom, _
            DataOption1:=xlSortNormal
    Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub

Because it is worksheet code, it is very easy to install and automatic to use:

1. right-click the tab name near the bottom of the Excel window
2. select View Code - this brings up a VBE window
3. paste the stuff in and close the VBE window

If you have any concerns, first try it on a trial worksheet.

If you save the workbook, the macro will be saved with it. If you are using a version of Excel later then 2003, you must save the file as .xlsm rather than .xlsx

To remove the macro:

1. bring up the VBE windows as above
2. clear the code out
3. close the VBE window

To learn more about macros in general, see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

and

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee814735(v=office.14).aspx

To learn more about Event Macros (worksheet code), see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/event.htm

Macros must be enabled for this to work!

Many questions, so I'm going to answer the "how does it work" part, not "how do I get this working."

This is dependent on the file system used. I'm answering based on ext[234], others probably work the same way or similarly.

1. No, the directory modification time doesn't change if a file is modified. The directory is not modified in this case in any way, it still contains the same files, directories etc linked to it.

2. The same as previous, if "changing a file" means the same as "modifying some file."

   If you remove a file and add a new one with the same name, or move another file "on top" of another, then the directory is modified.

3. When the directory is modified. This means linking/unlinking inodes into it, like files or subdirectories.

   Permission changes alter the change time, but not modification time. These are different.

   If you move the directory elsewhere, the change time will change, but modification time won't.

4. Directory access time is changed when the directory is accessed, if it hasn't been turned off. The volume might be mounted with noatime which means no last access time is written usually. Note that directory data is also cached.

   Also if you just access a subdirectory, the access time on the parent(s) doesn't change.

So if you search for directories not changed in the past 300 days, they might still contain files that have changed. File creation or removal hasn't happened, but editing contents may have. You will have to check by files as you said.