Find only newest file in a directory, then move it

Unix
1

I read the UNIX Find a File Command article, but am looking for something even more specific — using the find command.

I can get the filename via ls
ls -1tT ~/desktop/. | head -1

that I can turn into
mv ls -1tT ~/desktop/*.* | head -1 /users/username/dropbox/subfolder/
using back-quotes around ls -1tT ~/desktop/ . | head -1

NOTE: back-quotes don’t seem to work in the editor

but I’ve seen a number of scattered pages that suggest not to use the ls — recommending find instead, but

  • not showing me how to do this same thing with the find command
  • and not saying why the ls method isn’t suggested

Insight? Ideas?

THANKS in advance.

2

The ls may break with special file names. Hence, you must use the find command. Here is your ls command example:

## get file name and store in $file ##
file="$(ls -t ~/Desktop/ | head -1)"
echo "$file"
mv "$file"  /users/username/dropbox/subfolder/
1 Like
3

Thanks nixcraft… now I see!