Delete files in a certain directory except the latest created file. for example: payroll_12102003.pdf payroll_10102003.pdf payroll_9102003.pdf payroll_8202003.pdf Here payroll_12102003.pdf is the latest file created among all files in the directory. Now, I have to delete all files in the directory except payroll_12102003.pdf. Any one suggest me how to skip the latest file in the directory not to delete and delete remaining files. Thanks in advance, Raja

Maybe something like the following (take out the "print" to enable actual deletion): #!/bin/ksh function delete_all_but_first { shift for f in $@ do [[ -f $f ]] && print rm $f done } delete_all_but_first $(ls -C1 -t)

Thank you for the reply. It helped me alot. I was trying with awk command and not get through. Could you suggest me any books that helps to learn shell scripts. once again, thanks for the response.