Make the file list and start the editor:

!$
 

% ls -lt > /tmp/bk$$


% vi !$


vi /tmp/bk28182

Delete all lines except the ones for files from February 29:

total 4294                                           << delete

-rw-r--r--  1 jerry        1529 Feb 29 17:25 a7630
-rw-r--r--  1 jerry        1864 Feb 29 16:29 a0147
   ...Keep these lines
...
-rw-r--r--  1 jerry        1772 Feb 29 09:01 a1900
-rw-r--r--  1 jerry        2693 Feb 29 08:51 a0031
-rw-r--r--  1 jerry         744 Feb 28 23:35 a7600   << delete

-rw-r--r--  1 jerry        1957 Feb 28 22:18 a5210   << delete

   ...Delete the rest
...

In vi , use the | (vertical bar) command (30.34 ) to find the column number just before the filenames start. For example, here's where the commands 30| , 39| , and 45| moved the cursor:

-rw-r--r--  1 jerry        1529 Feb 29 17:25 a7630
                           30^      39^   45^

So, I want to delete columns 1-45 from every line. The easiest way is a filter-through (30.22 ) with colrm 1 45 (35.15 ) or cut -c46- (35.14 ) :

:%!cut -c46-

Now the file looks like this - just the filenames:

a7630
a0147
...
a1900
a0031

I can sort it with :%!sort if I want to - or do more editing. Then I write the file and quit.

Feed the list of filenames to the UNIX command I want to run:

% rcp `cat /tmp/bk$$` fserver:ptbackup

This works with most any UNIX command - not just rcp . For example, if I want to print the files, I can use:

% lpr `cat /tmp/bk$$`

If I'll be doing a lot of work with the filenames, typing the backquotes over and over is a pain. I'll store the filenames in a shell variable (6.8 ) :

• First, pick a name for the shell variable. I usually choose temp because it's not used on my account. You should check the name you choose before you set it by typing echo "$ varname " ; be sure it's empty or useless.

• Store the filenames from your temporary file:

  % set temp=(`cat /tmp/bk$$`)
  
   ...C shells
   
  $ temp="`cat /tmp/bk$$`"
  
   ...Bourne shells
  

• Use the shell variable. For example:

  % cp $temp
  
   backupdir
  
  
  % vi $temp
  
  
  % ...

Search the files. Be sure that your grep -like command will print the filename before each matching line:

% egrep -i "summar(y|ies)" * > /tmp/bk$$

Edit the temporary file. The lines will look something like this:

a0066:Here is a summary of the different components:
a0183:Summary: String functions in awk
a0183:for a summary of all the string functions
a0184:Let's start wlth a short summary how awk treats command
a1000:Here's a summary of the rules that UNIX uses to interpret paths:
a1000:Here's a summary of the different sorts of wildcards available:
a1680:cumulative summary files and ASCII reports in 
a2710:In summary, \fIcomm\fP is similar to \fIdiff\fP:
   ...

Leave a line for each file that you want to operate on; delete the rest:

a0066:Here is a summary of the different components:
a0183:Summary: String functions in awk
a1000:Here's a summary of the different sorts of wildcards available:
   ...

Strip off everything after the filenames. Unless any of your filenames have colons (: ) in them, you can tell vi to strip off the colons and everything after them. That command is:

:%s/:.*//

If there's a chance that a filename might be repeated (because grep matched more than one line), filter the filenames through sort -u to get rid of duplicates. In vi , type:

:%!sort -u

Like before, what's left is a list of filenames:

a0066
a0183
a1000
    ...

You can feed them to whatever command you need to run, as in the previous example.