Linux find command, find 10 latest files recursively regardless of time span

Question

What have I tried so far...

Command:

find . -type f -ctime -3 | tail -n 5

Result:

./Mobilni Telefoni/01. Box Update/05. DC Unlocker Client/dc-unlocker_client-1.00.0857.exe
./Mobilni Telefoni/01. Box Update/39. Z3X Box/01. Update/01. Samsung Box/SamsungTool_12.4.exe
./Mobilni Telefoni/10. Nokia/1. SRPSKI  HRVATSKI  JEZICI/BB5/3xx_Series/Asha 300/06.97/rm781_06.97_ppm_d.rar
./GPS Navigacije/01. Garmin/03. Garmin Other/garmin_kgen_15.exe
./GPS Navigacije/01. Garmin/03. Garmin Other/test.txt

This output is OK, doesn't work good if I put wider time span. (notice I use -ctime and not -mtime because some uploaded files are modified few years ago)

Problem is that files can be uploaded once a month, or once in a year, and I still need to get 10 latest files, regardless of time span.

If it can't be done, does tail only limit output, or somehow just fetches number specified without huge performance impact on large number of files.

By using command from one answer on SO, I was able to get the files but some files were missing...

find . -type f -printf '%T@ %p\n' | sort -n | tail -10 | cut -f2- -d" "

Result:

./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2330/E2330_OXFKE2.rar
./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2330/FlashTool_E2_R6.zip
./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E210/E210_XFGH2.rar
./Mobilni Telefoni/05. iPhone/07. iFaith/iFaith-v1.4.1_windows-final.zip
./Mobilni Telefoni/05. iPhone/09. iPhone Browser/SetupiPhoneBrowser.1.93.exe
./Mobilni Telefoni/05. iPhone/10. iPhone_PC_Suite/iPhone_PC_Suite_Eng_v0.2.1.rar
./Mobilni Telefoni/05. iPhone/10. iPhone_PC_Suite/iPhone_PC_Suite_Ok.rar
./test
./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2152/E2152_XXJH4_OXFJI2.zip.filepart
./GPS Navigacije/01. Garmin/03. Garmin Other/test.txt

File garmin_kgen_15.exe is missing because it was created in 2008, but it was uploaded in last 24 hours.

Answer 1

I was told that this is the solution:

find . -type f -printf "%C@ %p\n" | sort -rn | head -n 10 

The key point is the printf %C@ placeholder, which is the -ctime one. I found it by reading man find.

Result:

1336992789.0000000000 ./Mobilni Telefoni/05. iPhone/03. iPhone 4G Firmware/5.1.1/iPhone3,1_5.1.1_9B206_Restore.ipsw.filepart 1336928538.0000000000 ./GPS Navigacije/01. Garmin/03. Garmin Other/test.txt 1336922295.0000000000 ./GPS Navigacije/01. Garmin/03. Garmin Other/garmin_kgen_15.exe 1336868365.0000000000 ./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2152/E2152_XXJH4_OXFJI2.zip.filepart 1336867426.0000000000 ./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E210/E210_XFGH2.rar 1336866301.0000000000 ./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2330/FlashTool_E2_R6.zip 1336865921.0000000000 ./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2330/E2330_OXFKE2.rar 1336865409.0000000000 ./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2230/E2230_XXKC1_CDS.zip 1336865398.0000000000 ./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2230/E2230_XXKC1_BIN.zip 1336864949.0000000000 ./Mobilni Telefoni/11. Samsung/1. FLASH FILES/1. SRPSKI HRVATSKI JEZICI/E/E2230/E2230_OXFKC1_CSC.zip 

---

For a very large list of files, sort(1) with pipes might not be optimal for resource usage.

sort(1) could be replaced with perl(1) and buffer the ten highest entries, only. This has been outlined in unix command: how to get top n records for three, here an adoption for ten records.

It replaces the sort(1) and head(1) filters:

find . -type f -printf "%C@ %p\n" | perl -ane '     BEGIN {@top = ([-1]) x 10}     if ($F[0] > $top[0][0]) {         @top = sort {$a->[0] <=> $b->[0]} @top[1..9], [$F[0], $_];     }     END {print for reverse map {$_->[1]} @top} ' 

The result is identical.