Getting previous file name

[Larry Bates]

Hitesh wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a small script here that goes to inside dir and sorts the file
> by create date. I can return the create date but I don't know how to
> find the name of that file...
> I need file that is not latest but was created before the last file.
> Any hints... I am newbiw python dude and still trying to figure out lot
> of 'stuff'..
> 
> 
> import os, time, sys
> from stat import *
> 
> def walktree(path):
>     test1 = []
>     for f in os.listdir(path):
>             filename = os.path.join(path, f)
>             create_date_sces = os.stat(filename)[ST_CTIME]
>             create_date = time.strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S",
> time.localtime(create_date_sces))
>             print create_date, " ....." , f
>             test1.append(create_date)
>     test1.sort()
>     print test1
>     return test1[-2]
> 
> 
> if __name__ == '__main__':
> 	path = '\\\\srv12\\c$\\backup\\my_folder\\'
> 	prev_file = walktree(path)
> 	print "Previous back file is ", prev_file
> 
> 
> Thank you,
> hj
> 
Just some quick ideas (not tested):

change test1.append(create_date) to test1.append((create_date, filename))
that way the filename will tag along during the sorting as a tuple in
the test1 list.

You will also need to change prev_file = walktree(path) to
create_date, prev_file = walktree(path)

Note: Your script can't handle the situation where there are zero or
one file(s) in the path (you should probably put in some code for those
edge cases).

-Larry Bates