Ubuntu – File list as per their usage

command linefilestime

What do I do if I want the list of files from some specific directory, as per their usage?

That is, I want a list of files in ascending order as per their last usage with respect to time. In that case the file that was accessed last should be listed first.

Best Answer

You can use

ls -l --time=atime --sort=t

Explanation:

  • ls -l lists the files with the detailed list format
  • --time=atime --sort=t sets the sorting order to the time of the last access

Example:

$ touch foo bar foobar
$ ls -l
insgesamt 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 bar
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 foo
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 foobar
$ sleep 60; touch baz
$ ls -l 
insgesamt 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 bar
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:58 baz
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 foo
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 foobar

After some minutes:

$ touch -a foo # sets atime to cuurent time
$ ls -lt
insgesamt 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:58 baz
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 foobar
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 bar
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 foo
$ ls -lt --time=atime
insgesamt 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 12:01 foo
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:58 baz
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 foobar
-rw-r--r-- 1 Wayne users 0 Okt  4 11:56 bar

Conclusion:

ls -lt --time=atime

does what you need

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