DO statement reversed sort order seems not to work

[old coot]

I store backups of critical files in a given directory. Each backup produces a unique subdirectory of that directory.

For a potential restore, I want to find the most recent file with a given name in that directory. It makes sense to use a DO loop on that filename, with the output sorted descending by date, so that I can process the first file found and then quit the loop. However, the list of files found is always in ascending order.

This holds true if I sort instead by name or size or ...

What am I missing here?

Here's some sample code:

del d:\tmp\list1.txt d:\tmp\list2.txt >& NUL

  :: Find all files named MeConfig.db.  Sort the output list ASCENDING by date.
  do file in /d"D:\croot.backup" /s /o:d  "MeConfig.db"
    echo file is %_cwd\%file %@filedate[%file,c] >> d:\tmp\list1.txt
  enddo

  :: Find all files named MeConfig.db.  Sort the output list DESCENDING by date.
  do file in /d"D:\croot.backup" /s /o:-d "MeConfig.db"
    echo file is %_cwd\%file %@filedate[%file,c] >> d:\tmp\list2.txt
  enddo

  :: Compare the two lists that were created.  (Invoke your favorite compare utility.)  They are the same.
  diff d:\tmp\list1.txt d:\tmp\list2.txt

 

[dbartt]

I think it's because the "do file ... /o:" defaults to file write time but you're using the file create time in the echo.

 

[vefatica]

It's OK here; the files in each directory are sorted separately.

v:\> do f in /d"v:\" /s /o:d *.log  ( echo %@full[%f] )
V:\w32tm.log
V:\killoobe.log
V:\tailtest.log
V:\cpulog.log
V:\nocursor.log
V:\killers.log
V:\hold\tilog.log
V:\hold\timonitor.log

v:\> do f in /d"v:\" /s /o:-d *.log  ( echo %@full[%f] )
V:\killers.log
V:\nocursor.log
V:\cpulog.log
V:\tailtest.log
V:\killoobe.log
V:\w32tm.log
V:\hold\timonitor.log
V:\hold\tilog.log

 

[old coot]

Sorry, Dennis, for my coding error. But I just tried changing my test code (both to %@filedate[%file,w] and to %@filedate[%file]) and got the same inexplicable result.

 

[vefatica]

Off-topic ... but, it's possible to redirect all of DO's output at once (and it might save a very tiny amount of time)

v:\> type dotest.btm
>z:\file1 do f in /d"v:\" /s /o:d *.log
    echo %@full[%f] %@filedate[%f]
enddo

>z:\file2 do f in /d"v:\" /s /o:-d *.log
    echo %@full[%f] %@filedate[%f]
enddo

echo file1
type z:\file1
echo.
echo file2
type z:\file2

v:\> dotest.btm
file1
V:\w32tm.log 2021-03-14
V:\killoobe.log 2021-10-10
V:\tailtest.log 2021-10-11
V:\cpulog.log 2021-10-13
V:\nocursor.log 2021-10-14
V:\killers.log 2021-10-26
V:\hold\tilog.log 2019-07-16
V:\hold\timonitor.log 2019-08-16

file2
V:\killers.log 2021-10-26
V:\nocursor.log 2021-10-14
V:\cpulog.log 2021-10-13
V:\tailtest.log 2021-10-11
V:\killoobe.log 2021-10-10
V:\w32tm.log 2021-03-14
V:\hold\timonitor.log 2019-08-16
V:\hold\tilog.log 2019-07-16

 

[old coot]

Vince:

the files in each directory are sorted separately

Then it's not really a sort by date, is it? Especially in my case, where there is at most one file in each directory with the same name. So that explains my problem.

I consider that a bug. Probably too much work to fix.

Thanks for the redirection tip. That is entirely new syntax to me.

 

[Charles G]

I store backups of critical files in a given directory. Each backup produces a unique subdirectory of that directory.

[omitted]

Great to see you post Brett. Glad you got a profile name to work or did ??? get your old one back? Was going to post that I think I know what editor you use - then looked your signature! Lol....

 

[vefatica]

And if you wanted the whole list to be sorted by date, you can also pipe DO's output (you CAN'T combine that with redirection). But you can ...

v:\> type dotest.btm
do f in /d"v:\" /s /o:d *.log | sort /o z:\file1
    echo %@filedate[%f] %@filetime[%f] %@full[%f]
enddo

do f in /d"v:\" /s /o:d *.log | sort /r /o z:\file2
    echo %@filedate[%f] %@filetime[%f] %@full[%f]
enddo

type z:\file1
echo.
type z:\file2

v:\> dotest.btm

2019-07-16 13:41 V:\hold\tilog.log
2019-08-16 16:26 V:\hold\timonitor.log
2021-03-14 14:01 V:\w32tm.log
2021-10-10 21:31 V:\killoobe.log
2021-10-11 16:07 V:\tailtest.log
2021-10-13 22:08 V:\cpulog.log
2021-10-14 14:41 V:\nocursor.log
2021-10-26 17:22 V:\killers.log

2021-10-26 17:22 V:\killers.log
2021-10-14 14:41 V:\nocursor.log
2021-10-13 22:08 V:\cpulog.log
2021-10-11 16:07 V:\tailtest.log
2021-10-10 21:31 V:\killoobe.log
2021-03-14 14:01 V:\w32tm.log
2019-08-16 16:26 V:\hold\timonitor.log
2019-07-16 13:41 V:\hold\tilog.log

 

[old coot]

| sort /o z:\file1
Just what I was looking for to eliminate a second workfile. Thanks again.

 

[vefatica]

| sort /o z:\file1
Just what I was looking for to eliminate a second workfile. Thanks again.

And that makes DO's /o:d unnecessary.

 

[rconn]

This is WAD - the DO /o:... option sorts for each directory; it does not do a single sort on the entire directory tree. You need to use TPIPE or SORT to do that.

 

[vefatica]

Actually, you could make it a one-liner. [I haven't tried it but you could probably do the sort | tee | sort thing with DO as well.] PDIR is nice for picking out the info you want in a desired order.

v:\> pdir /s /(@filedate[*] @filetime[*,,s] @full[*]) v:\*.log | sort | tee z:\file1 | sort /r /o z:\file2

v:\> type z:\file1
2019-07-16 13:41:10 V:\hold\tilog.log
2019-08-16 16:26:44 V:\hold\timonitor.log
2021-03-14 14:01:15 V:\w32tm.log
2021-10-10 21:31:30 V:\killoobe.log
2021-10-11 16:07:03 V:\tailtest.log
2021-10-13 22:08:41 V:\cpulog.log
2021-10-14 14:41:44 V:\nocursor.log
2021-10-26 17:22:15 V:\killers.log

v:\> type z:\file2
2021-10-26 17:22:15 V:\killers.log
2021-10-14 14:41:44 V:\nocursor.log
2021-10-13 22:08:41 V:\cpulog.log
2021-10-11 16:07:03 V:\tailtest.log
2021-10-10 21:31:30 V:\killoobe.log
2021-03-14 14:01:15 V:\w32tm.log
2019-08-16 16:26:44 V:\hold\timonitor.log
2019-07-16 13:41:10 V:\hold\tilog.log