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How can I create a file in unix or linux based on variable value ?


If I store date in a variable in linux,

YESTERDAY=`date --date='1 day ago' '+%d-%m-%Y'`

it will store value to YESTERDAY as 27-1-2010.

Here I want to create file as name of 27-1-2010,

How can I create file with variable 'YESTERDAY' ?

i want appending operation too. How can i do this ?

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Unless you've got a compelling reason (as in, some application already expects this date format), please do it Y-m-d and keep yourself sane. d-m-Y never sorts right, and over time, you'll be very upset. –  Matt Simmons Feb 2 '10 at 4:45
@Matt Simmons , Thanks i will change at my real time usage. –  Kumar Feb 2 '10 at 5:29

4 Answers 4



echo "something" > $YESTERDAY

to append:

echo "something" >> $YESTERDAY
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I don't see anything wrong with echo "foo" >> $YESTERDAY or cat otherfile >> $YESTERDAY

What are you trying to cat? Or alternately what are you trying to put into the file called 27-1-2010?

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up vote 1 down vote accepted



It too working well with appending operation

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You can use the variable $YESTERDAY in commands. Like touch $YESTERDAY, mv original_file $YESTERDAY

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